


I Solemnly Swear

by MonkeyZero



Series: Mischief Managed [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bullying, Cigarettes, First Crush, First War, MWPP, Marauders, Masturbation, Pranking, Smoking, Underage Drinking, Werewolf, lycanthropy, wolfstar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-17
Updated: 2015-07-20
Packaged: 2018-04-04 18:47:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 36,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4148865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MonkeyZero/pseuds/MonkeyZero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For as long as he can remember Remus has never had friends, but somehow he finds he has three. With James Potter and Sirius Black as best friends, life never gets dull, especially for a werewolf.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sorted

**Author's Note:**

> So, here's the dealio, this is meant to be pretty *darn* canon, and basically detail the adventures of the marauders from year one.  
> It started out from Remus' perspective, but Sirius sort of butted in in year four, and it got sort of mixed, oh well.  
> Anyways, I'm not awesome at tags, so I'm going back through and doing chapter by chapter notes with content warning and trigger warnings that aren't major archive warnings. Please, please, please let me know if I forget to warn/tag something esp. if it is triggering. You can always anon. message me on tumblr.  
> Feedback is always appreciated! Anything is up for critique, from style, to plot points, Whatever. If You catch anything that isn't canon, i'd love to know and I may or may not be able to edit it, depending on how important it is to plot. I realize Bellatrix should probably be older, but by the time I realized that she was already too important.  
> Anyways, I hope you like my story :)))  
> I am currently chilling at follow-the-bvtterflies.tumblr.com  
> -FYI, part two of the series is rated M, in case that affects your decision to read and get invested

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TWs:  
> some bullying, both directed towards marauders   
> A tiny bit of homophobia

“Remus darling, would you please come into the sitting room?”  
Looking up from his book, Remus could see on his mother’s face that whatever it was was important. “Okay,” he said, putting down his book on goblin wars and leaving his bedroom. His father was talking to a tall man with silver hair. When he turned to face Remus he had sky blue eyes, half-moon spectacles and a long crooked nose.  
“Remus, this is professor Dumbledore,” His father explained. “He’s the Headmaster at Hogwarts.”  
Remus smiled and shook hands with Dumbledore, but did not meet his eyes. Any dreams he had once had about attending Hogwarts had vanished on full moon when he was not quite five.  
Remus sat down across from Dumbledore and examined the silver trim on his midnight blue robes.  
“What I’d like to ask you Remus is if you would like to attend Hogwarts School,” Dumbledore said, causing Remus to look up sharply and finally make eye contact with Dumbledore. In that moment he felt almost overwhelmed with the mix of kindness and wisdom, two things he rarely saw in anyone. Not that anyone in the village would really look at him. Those that did, like his parents, had only pity. He had grown to hate the pity, even more than the hatred.  
“I can’t go to Hogwarts,” Remus said, puzzled. Did they not know what he was?  
“Well, that may not be true,” Dumbledore said. “While we certainly must keep students safe, certain measures could be taken to protect your classmates. You haven’t hurt anyone these past six years, so we know you can transform without harming anyone.”  
“Really?” Remus asked, not daring to believe it; he didn’t think he could stand another disappointment.  
“Certainly,” Dumbledore said, smiling down on Remus. “So, the question is, would you like to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this September?”

“Hmm, not a bad brain. No, more knowledge here than most, and a real hunger. But, I think curiosity for things outside of books. Yes, you are a brave one. Quiet, but brave. Well, I think on the whole…. GRYFFINDOR.”  
Flushed with excitement Remus pulled the sorting hat off and ran to the Gryffindor table. While he would have been happy in any house—he was very lucky to be at Hogwarts at all—he had secretly been hoping to be in Gryffindor, and the hat had thought him to be brave. Having spent most of his childhood reading he had expected to be in Ravenclaw like his father, but here he was, in a sea of red and gold.  
“Sirius,” said the boy next to his with Shaggy black hair and an easy manner that would bring him as many friends as he could want. “We’ll be rooming I suppose.”  
“I’m Remus,” Remus replied, not fully looking at Sirius. He did not have friends his age—he didn’t have friends at all—and he hardly knew how to go about things.  
“Hey James,” Sirius said, making room for another smiling, confident boy with very messy black hair. Remus listened in on their conversation, which mostly revolved around Hogwarts legends.  
“Is it true there’s tons of secret passage ways around here?” Sirius asked.  
“Yes, there are a lot if you can keep from getting lost in them,” said a tall girl with short dark hair and a prefect’s badge. “I’m Alice by the way, and this is my boyfriend Frank,” She gestured to the round faced boy sitting next to her with a head boy badge.”  
“Sirius, Black” Sirius said, reaching across the table to shake his hand.  
“You’re a Black?” Frank asked, raising his eyebrows. “And you’re in Gryffindor.”  
“My family will not be pleased,” Sirius said, laughing. “I’m a bit of a disappointment, not upholding the family tradition.”  
“And what’s your name?” Alice asked turning to Remus. Though she was smiling kindly Remus shrank back a little and mumbled, “Remus.”  
“What?” James asked turning to face him. “What’s your name?”  
“Remus Lupin,” Remus repeated.  
“Lupin?” James asked. “Have I heard of your Dad or someone?”  
“Probabably,” Remus said. “He used to work for the ministry with non-human apparitions—boggarts and poltergeists and things like that, but he stopped working for the ministry when I was five. Now he just runs an apothecary.”  
“He’s that bloke who killed that giant boggart!” Sirius interjected.  
“Yeah,” Remus said, blushing a little. Now a lot of people were looking at him. “Yeah he is.”  
“Have you ever seen a boggart?” James asked, curious.  
“Well, my Dad takes me with him sometimes, and he teaches me how to fight things,” Remus answered.  
“You’ve fought a boggart?” James asked.  
“Well, yeah,” Remus said. He didn’t want to sound impressive: he really just wanted everyone to stop looking at him. “Only a few times, I’m not that good.”  
“Not that good,” Sirius said. “Man, that’s way cool. What does it turn into for you?”  
Remus paused. He could tell them what he saw was a snarling gray wolf, teeth dripping in blood: that would bring way to much attention to his condition. “Um…” he said, trying to think of a good lie. “It’s a… a banshee.”  
“I think it would be an infiri for me,” James said. “Those things are terrifying? What about you Sirius?”  
“It’s probably turn into my mum,” Sirius said, smirking. Everyone laughed.  
For the rest of the evening everyone was paying attention to James and Sirius, or Nearly-Headless Nick letting his head swing off his shoulder, and not on Remus. He listened to James’ jokes and laughed along, but what he really wanted was to be alone in his room with a book. As much as he had always wanted friends growing up, he was more comfortable in the background, watching, at least until he had a grasp of the situation. When Dumbledore dismissed the hall—after announcing that the forest was forbidden and introducing Harvey Gorsuch as the new defense against the dark arts professor—Remus followed Alice to the Gryffindor common room and then up to the dormitory.  
James and Sirius took the two beds in the middle, and a small, fat boy with a squeaky voice introduced himself as Peter Pettigrew then set his things down by the bed closest to the door. Remus took the remaining bed by the bathroom and opened his trunk looking for his pajamas. When he looked up Sirius, who was in the bed next to his, was completely naked and had thrown his pajamas on the ground. He had a strong, athletic build, and his skin was completely scar free. Remus crossed his arms a little more tightly over his scared and mutilated body. Looking up, he caught Sirius’ eye, blushed and quickly walked to the bathroom to change.  
“How the hell are you wearing a jumper?” Sirius demanded when Remus emerged. “It’s fucking hot in here.”  
“That’s quite the vocabulary,” James noted, laughing. “Here, I’ll open the window.”  
“Don’t,” Remus cried before he could stop himself. James and Sirius looked back at him eyebrows raised. “Sorry,” He said, putting his hand over his mouth. “I just sleep cold. It’s fine, leave it open. I’ll be fine. Sorry.”  
“We’ll leave it closed, alright,” James said. “Calm down though. It’s not like anything’s going to get in and kill you.”  
“Of course not,” Remus said, forcing a weak smile. “I’ll, I’ll just go to bed then.” And, thrusting the hangings closed, Remus wanted to kick himself. He was making a complete fool of himself. He was on the seventh floor, there was no way a werewolf was going to climb in through the window, he was safe, but now the others must think he was mental. Groaning he rolled over and tried to fall asleep.

Remus had planned on eating a quick breakfast to avoid his roommates. He figured they would think he was some weirdo who couldn’t even sleep with a window open. He chose a seat at the end of the table in order to make a quick exit, but Sirius and James sat opposite him ten minutes later. When Remus was almost finished eating, however, the mail brought a surprise for the Gryffindor table.  
“Shit,” Sirius cursed loudly, drawing stares, and soon everyone could see what he was swearing about. He had a smoking scarlet letter in his hands that was beginning to smoke. It was a howler.  
“Open it man,” James said. “It gets worse the longer you wait.”  
Muttering more curses under his breath, Sirius ripped the letter open and the great hall was filled with a woman’s voice.  
SIRIUS BLACK! You’re father and I are very disappointed. The most noble and ancient house of Black traces it’s lineage back for hundred of years of Slytherins! Our family name is married to the name of Slytherin, and every heir has managed to be sorted into the correct house: all but you. No, you had to be sorted into Gryffindor, the traditional enemy of Slytherin. Your constant need to drag this family’s name through the mud has gone too far. I am writing a letter to Albus Dumbledore demanding that you be relocated to the correct house. Imagine the disgrace! Thousands of years of tradition undone by one disappointment. This is not the end of this conversation.”  
With that last threat, the letter burst into flames and ashes rained down onto the table. “Would you pass the marmalade,” Sirius said, gesturing to the dish next to Remus’ elbow.  
“Oh,” He said, and quickly passed the jar as everyone at the table burst into laughter. Using this opportunity to escape, Remus slipped from the Great Hall and walked to the Charms classroom where he settled outside the door and took out his spellbook.  
He had, of course, already learned most of the spells. Not thinking his son would be able to go to Hogwarts, Lyall had begun instructing him in wizarding skills since he was eight, and now Remus was far ahead of all his classmates. Still, it would be good to look over things and practice. It took another twenty minutes until the other first-years gathered outside the classroom. Remus didn’t pay much attention until he felt James’ elbow hit him in the side. Looking over he saw that a tall Slytherin—Mulciber--had taken Peter’s wand from his back pocket and was holding it up, out of reach. Three other Slytherins were preventing James and Sirius from interfering. Smiling, Remus drew his wand, and, pointing it at Mucibers feet, muttered the incantation that would tie his shoelaces together. With an small flick, Remus ensured the knot would be very tight.  
“A-ah,” Mulciber cried as he tripped and fell on his back, his arms flailing by his side. Everyone laughed, even a few of the Slytherins, but nobody laughed as loudly as Sirius. He had a good, loud laugh, more like a bark than a laugh.  
“You?” James asked, turning to Remus, who only grinned.  
“Hey, I know you. You’re that Lupin boy.” Remus looked up and his heart sank. It was Avery. They had lived in the same village for a while, and Avery had bullied him even more than the rest. Laughing, he turned to James and said, “Don’t get to close to him, there’s something not right about him.”  
“How do you mean?” James asked, his eyes narrowing slightly.  
“I don’t know, but none of us were allowed to go near him,” Avery said, shrugging. “Cracked or something.”  
“He seems perfectly normal to me,” James declared. Sirius and Remus both looked surprised to hear it, but Sirius promptly agreed, as did Peter a few seconds later.  
At that moment the door swung open and Professor Flitwick invited the class in. “Sit down with us,” Sirius said and they found a table for four.  
“There isn’t anything wrong with you is there?” James asked. “I mean, you are a bit odd.”  
“No, Remus lied, “there’s nothing wrong with me.”  
“Good,” Sirius said. “Because we are sharing a room with you. I’d hate to find out you were a vampire or something like that.”  
“It’s light out, idiot,” James said, gesturing out the window. “How could he be a vampire?”  
“Well, the point it,” Sirius continued, cutting over James, “The point is you’re alright.” Remus didn’t know how to respond, but Flitwick saved him the trouble by beginning the lesson.

“How do you set shit on fire again?” Sirius asked, pointing his wand at the fireplace.  
“Incendio,” Remus said from his bed when James could not answer. “Are you lighting actual shit on fire?”  
“No,” Sirius said, smiling. “Incendio.” His wand lit up, but went out quickly.  
“Cool,” Peter said, coming closer to watch.  
“No it isn’t,” Sirius growled. “It didn’t work, did it?”  
“You have to hold your concentration,” Remus explained. “You have to be casting the spell every moment. Or else it’s just like a match and goes right out.”  
“Right,” Sirius said, and, screwing up his facial muscles, said “Incendio.” This time he managed to get the fire going, and, pleased with himself, he shut the grate and returned to bed.  
“Let’s hope the weather clears up before quidditch season starts,” James said, looking out the window to the pouring rain. “I hate flying in rain.”  
“You fly much?” Sirius asked.  
“All the time!” James said, getting excited. “I’m going to try out next year. I play chaser, and I’m pretty good. Better than Garret Brockhurst at least: he’s rubbish. Do you fly?”  
“Yeah,” Sirius said. “Beater, but I don’t have much practice. It’s hard to play in the middle of London, so I only play when we spend the summers with my cousins, and then I really want to hit things. Andromeda’s not bad, but Narcissa is a bitch, and Bellatrix is straight up evil. She hates muggles a little more than the rest of them.”  
Sirius lapsed into silence as he usually did when his family came up, but then sat up and turned to Remus. “Do you play?”  
“I fly,” Remus said, a little caught off guard by being invited into the conversation, “But I’ve never played quidditch. I never really had anyone to play with me.” As soon as he said it he realized it might sound a bit dramatic. “I mean, I just…”  
“Why wouldn’t the kids talk to you?” Sirius asked.  
“That’s a really rude question,” James said, but Remus shrugged.  
“It’s fine. I don’t really know, I guess I was just a kind of weird kid. And I was sick a lot,” Remus explained. He could tell the answer did not satisfy the either of them, but they seemed to let it go.  
“You do look a little paler,” Sirius said, “Do you think you’re getting sick?”  
The full moon was in two nights, and apart from the usual exhaustion around the event, Remus was also sick with worry about transforming in a new place. Not to mention the usual nightmares he had in the nights coming up to the full moon. “Yeah,” he said. “Probably just the weather. It’ll clear up I guess, but, well, these things get worse before they get better.”  
“Yeah?” James asked, staring at him as if trying to diagnose him. “Well, don’t work yourself too hard.”

By the end of the next day Remus was exhausted. He had used up most of his strength on class and his homework, and he went up and collapsed onto his bad as soon as dinner was over. He was just about to take his sweater off when Sirius came in.  
“No need to be so modest,” he said, grinning as Remus quickly hands down. “We all change out here, you’re the only one who has to go to the bathroom. What? Have you got a really small dick or something?”  
“No,” Remus said, blushing hard. Sirius always made him feel a little uncomfortable.  
“Relax?” Sirius laughed. “You’re just so easy to embarrass. I can’t help myself.”  
“What are you laughing about?” James asked, entering the dormitory.  
“How Remus won’t let us see him naked,” Sirius said. As if emphasizing his point, he began to strip and change into more casual clothing  
“What, do you want to see him naked?” James asked, which made Sirius laugh again. “But seriously, you’re like a monk or something. We’re all mates here.”  
“I just prefer to change there,” Remus muttered.  
“Have it you’re way then,” James said, and, changed into jeans and a sweater, he walked to the door. “Coming?” He asked. “We’re going to do that potions essay.”  
“Already did it,” Remus said, “Besides, I’m not feeling well.” Sirius shrugged and followed James into the common room. Stupid as he knew it was, Remus wished he could just go down the stairs, laugh and play games, he wished, in short, that he was not a were wolf.

“You look like shit.” Remus nodded in agreement as he sat down in potions beside James. Only one more class, he thought, setting up his cauldron. “Man, you need the hospital wing,” James said.  
“It’s fine,” Remus argued. “I can manage, honestly. I’ll go after class. This class is important. I’m sure sticking solutions will be on our exams, and I’m rubbish at potions. Can’t even mix a simple cold remedy.”  
“Neither can I,” James argued. “It’s okay if you aren’t miles ahead of us on everything. Why did your parents teach you all that stuff anyways?”  
“Just my Dad,” Remus corrected. “My Mom’s a muggle, but he was going to homeschool me, but plans changed, and now I’m here.”  
“Why would he homeschool you?” James asked. “Why wouldn’t you come to Hogwarts?”  
“Well, I could help him out at home if I stayed.” It was a feeble lie, but he was saved the next questions by Slughorn’s arrival.  
“Ah, Remus, my boy,” He said, stopping by their table. “Hagrid will be meeting you outside the entrance hall this evening. after dinner”  
“Thank you Professor,” Remus said.  
“Are you sure you don’t need to go see Madame Pomfrey?” Slughorn asked. “You’re paler than a ghost.”  
“No, it’s quite normal professor,” Remus said. “I don’t want to get behind in classes.”  
“Well, we’d best get going then,” Slughorn said, and strode to the front of the classroom.

“You’re ready Remus?” Hagrid had been waiting by the oak front doors, a ferret perched on his shoulders.  
“Yes,” Remus said, “What is the ferret for?”  
“Ah yes,” Hagrid said, smiling. “I’ve trained him up a bit, and he’ll be helping you get you in.”  
“Where exactly will I be going?” Remus asked.  
“You’ll see,” Hagrid said, and strode out of the hall. Trotting along after him, Remus surveyed the grounds. It had to be somewhere enclosed, certainly not the forest. Probably not Hagrid’s hut or any of the greenhouses: there would be too many things for him to break. Hagrid walked away from the castle and towards the lake and stopped in front of a newly planted willow.  
“This here is a whomping willow,” Hagrid said.  
“It is?” Remus asked. “There was one in the woods where I used to live.”  
“Yes, well, this one is guarding a passageway,” Hagrid explained. “You see that there, there’s where you’ll go through. You should be able to follow the tunnel for fifteen minutes and then you’ll be in an abandoned house. Dumbledore’s placed enchantments all over the place: no way in or out, ‘cept this tunnel here.”  
“Right,” Remus said, “But how do I get there without getting… whomped?”  
“Well that’s where Biter here comes in,” Hagrid said, picking up the ferret around the middle. “He’s too small for the willow to pick up on, and he’ll go, and find the freezing spot and tap it for you. That should give us time to get there. Here.” Hagrid set the ferret down and he scurried to the base of the tree and crawled onto the knot on one of the larger roots. Glancing at Hagrid for confirmation, Remus followed the ferret. “Right here, then you press this knot when you’re coming out, and the tree won’t touch you.”  
Remus shimmied into the hole at the base of the tree and turned to face Hagrid. “Thank you,” he said. “I suppose I’ll see you in the morning.”  
“If you don’t come out I’ll send someone in,” Hagrid said, then, looking a little awkward, added, “Well, good luck then.”  
“Thanks,” Remus said flatly, then turned into the tunnel. The ceiling was low, so his hair brushed against it. The tunnel went on for quite a while, and Remus worried his transformation would begin before he reached the end. The moon would rise in less than fifteen minutes. Remus sped up to a jog and after five minutes or so came to an open door. He felt the usual chills when he passed through the protective enchantments and emerged into what had once been a house. There was a bedroom with an old and dusty king sized bed, and a sitting room with wooden chairs and a sofa with split seams and dark stains. It was a place that nobody would miss when Remus was done with it. With a shudder, he felt the transformation begin He barely had time to undress and place his clothes on a high shelf of a rotting book case. Every muscle in his body erupted in pain as he seized up. His mind dissolved into a panic frenzy, his spine elongated, and then he blacked out. 

It was always the pain that woke him. He was sore and exhausted, lying on the floor of a dusty old shack. That was good: it was where he was supposed to be. Wincing, he sat up and looked down at his body. Nothing broken, and only a few shallow scratches on his arms. It looked as though the couch had taken most of the violence for the night. Shaking, he used the sofa to pull himself to his feet and wobbled to the door. He made it to the tunnel mouth, but it took him half an hour.  
“Alright Remus?” Hagrid asked as Remus, having frozen the willow, emerged from the tree.  
“Yeah,” Remus panted, leaning forward to catch his breath.  
“Right,” Hagrid said, putting his arm over Remus’ shoulder to grab his side and practically lift him off the ground. We’ll get you to the hospital and you can get some sleep.”  
“I need to go to class,” Remus interjected.  
“No you don’t,” Hagrid growled. “None of your teachers expect you, and you need rest.” Hagrid to proceeded to half drag, half carry Remus to a bed in the hospital wing where Madame Pomfrey pressed a cup of liquid that smelled of chamomile and lemons in Remus’ hands.  
“It should help with the sore muscles dear,” she said. “But what you really need is a good rest. Any scratches or bites.”  
“Just these,” Remus said, pulling his arm out of his sweater.  
“Hm,” She said. “Not much I can doo, but disinfect and bandage them.” She came back with a salve that stung horribly and crisp bandages. “I’ll be back in an hour or two with breakfast. Shout if you need anything. And sleep.”  
Remus nodded, but as soon as she had disappeared into her office, and Hagrid had gone back out, he slunk out as quietly as possible, made his way past the dining hall where students were eating breakfast, and back up to Gryffindor tower. The potion had helped with the pain and he could walk with decent balance, though he was still light-headed. When he had his bag he headed down to meet his class in Transfiguration. BY the time he reached the classroom the others were finding their seats, and he slipped in next to Sirius.  
“Where were you last night?” Sirius asked.  
“Hospital wing,” Remus answered.  
“You look like shit,” Sirius said, to which Remus and James chuckled.  
McGonagall swept into the classroom and informed them they would be turning branches into silver spoons. She was midway through her demonstration when she caught sight of Remus. Leaving the branch in a sort of silvery stage, she hurried to his table.  
“What in heaven’s name are you doing here?” she hissed, though James and Sirius were listening intently.  
“I’m here for class,” Remus said defensively. “I don’t want to get behind.”  
“You’ll kill yourself,” she scolded. “Get to the hospital wing.”  
“I’m fine professor,” Remus argued.  
“No, or it will be ten points from Gryffindor,” McGonagall said.  
Grumbling, Remus stood up, but as soon as he took a step he stumbled and the room began to spin and he fell to the floor, barely catching himself. By the time he had oriented himself he heard McGonagall saying, “Black, kindly escort Mr. Lupin to the hospital wing, and make sure he stays there.”  
Sirius slung Remus’ arm around his shoulder and, pulling his friend up by the waist, walked him from the room.  
“Thanks,” Remus managed, through embarrassment and pain.  
“No problem man,” Sirius said. “What the Hell is wrong with you?”  
“It’s fine,” Remus lied. “I’m just sick. I’ll be fine in a day or two. I’ve never had great health. Just pushed it a bit too far.” Remus barely managed to get the last few words out as he leaned against a wall to try and catch his breath.  
Sirius furrowed his brow and looked about to question his friend when Hagrid burst in. “There you are Remus,” He cried. “Madame Pomfrey’s in a right state. How could you just sneak out like that?”  
Remus gave Sirius a guilty shrug as Hagrid scooped him up and literally carried him to the hospital wing despite his protests that he could, in fact, walk.  
“Unbelievable,” Madame Pomfrey cried, pushing Remus into bed. “I have never had a student in such a condition walk away. How you didn’t pass out—“  
“Well I did,” Remus cut in.  
“Werewolves have died, over-exhausting themselves,” Madame Pomfrey said. Remus looked around, but nobody was about. She was one of the few people who would openly state what he was, and he had to credit her for that. “You are not allowed to leave this room after your transformations. Is that clear?”  
“Yes,” Remus admitted. It was true, leaving had been rash and risky, and as much as he wanted to be normal, he really did want to sleep. In fact, he didn’t hear the rest of Madame Pomfrey’s lecture as he pulled the blankets up to his chin and fell asleep. 

Madame Pomfrey woke him around dinner and he ate a great deal of it, not having eaten yet that day, and considering the energy his transformations took. He was on his fourth helping of mashed potatoes and roast beef when James and Sirius entered the hospital wing.  
“Awake then?” James asked, taking the seat by his bed. “We checked in after lunch but you were out.”  
“We brought your books, and James wrote down the assignments,” Sirius said, passing him his bag. “But all the teachers say they don’t expect it until Friday and you should sleep rather than trying to catch up even if it means you’ll need more time.”  
“Yeah, even McGonagall said you shouldn’t do your work. I mean, you do look awful, but they really must like you or something,” James said. “I mean, sometimes I think death wouldn’t be a good enough excuse for late Transfiguration work.” Remus laughed.  
“Hold on a second,” he said, and, digging through his bag, he pulled out a handful of chocolate frogs, handed one to James and Sirius, then started on one. “My mum always gives me chocolate when I… well, when I get sick. I just forgot this morning. I was pretty focused on getting to class.”  
“Yeah, well, that didn’t go well, did it?” James said.  
“Are people talking about it?” Remus asked, trying not to think about what would be said about him.  
“Well it was a bit of a show,” Sirius said. “And people will give you some shit about it, especially Avery and Mulciber. And Snivellus, of course.”  
“Snivellus?” Remus asked.  
“Well, Severus,” James explained. “Severus Snape. He’s a sneaky little git.”  
“Hmm,” Remus said, trying to picture Snape. “The kid with the greasy hair?” He finally asked, getting a mental picture.  
“That would be the one,” James said. “You need to teach me that shoelaces trick, he deserves it if anyone does.”  
Remus spent the next thirty minutes teaching James the hex, using Sirius as the lab rat. They laughed a lot, and he was enjoying himself, but getting tired when Madame Pomfrey came out to shoo James and Sirius away.  
“Can’t I sleep in Gryffindor tower?” Remus asked. “I can sleep there as well as here.”  
James and Sirius paused by the door to hear Madame Pomfrey say, “Well alright then, and if you wake up you can go to classes, but then straight back to bed after class. No schoolwork, no hanging about in the common room. I’ll have a house elf bring up some food. And if I catch you over-exerting yourself, you’ll be back here before you know it. Do you understand me?”  
“Yes,” Remus agreed.  
“And this goes for next time too,” she added in an undertone.  
“Yes,” Remus said. Privately, he though it would be best not to collapse in class again, so, grabbing his school bag he followed his new friends back to Gryffindor tower. As it went, the transformation hadn’t been too bad, and with two friends, his first month was not going badly at all. Hogwarts was, without a doubt, the best thing that had ever happened to him. 

“The password is ‘Ascendency’” Sirius whispered to James as soon as he entered the room. Still half asleep, Remus hardly cared what the new password was, though it was rather different from most of the ones they had had in the last three months.  
“How did you find out?” James asked.  
“My cousin Narcissa. I just complained about how much I hate being a Gryffindor and how there must have been some sort of mistake. I mean, even the passwords are soft. How noble is ‘treacle tart?’”  
“You told her our password was treacle tart?” James asked. “And she believed you?” Remus was definitely listening now. He was pretty sure James and Sirius would stop scheming if they knew he was awake, but he was quite glad to take any advantage he could find in being a werewolf. If nothing else, he was good at blending in and all but disappearing.  
“Well it was what came to mind,” Sirius said defensively. “And I got the password, didn’t I? And I found the common room when I followed Malfoy last week.. You said you could get us there without any of the teachers finding us.”  
“Yeah, you’re going to love this.” Remus heard James rummaging through his trunk, but had no idea what he was looking for until he heard Sirius gasp.  
“Is that what I think it is?” Sirius exclaimed. Remus considered trying to roll over, ostensibly asleep, and get a look, but decided he might be able to figure it out from context. Besides, he could always look through James’ trunk later. No, that would be wrong. Friends don’t look through their friends’ things. But he did want to know. Thinking about these things he almost missed what James said next.  
“Yeah, and it’s a good one too. My dad got it from his dad, and it’s been going down the generations for years. But it’s holding up nicely.”  
“Wow,” Sirius said. “Put it on.” After a few second he said, “Wow” again, and then. “Will we both fit?”  
“Yeah, it’s pretty big. But think of all the things we could do, and nobody would find out. We can go anywhere. Slytherin common room is just the beginning.”  
“Yeah, we should go tomorrow night. We just have to wait until ten when everyone goes to bed.  
Not able to contain himself anymore, Remus sat up and sad, “Midnight actually.”  
James hastily shoved a bundle into his trunk and said. “You’re awake?”  
“Well I was trying to sleep until the two of you started talking. You’ll need to wait until midnight. Students have to go to bed by ten, except for prefects and seventh-years. They can stay in the common room until midnight, but it’s not very well enforced. But what are you doing in the Slytherin common room?”  
“What can’t we do,” James cried. “We just want to, you know, mess things up. I don’t know.” He exchanged a look with Sirius that said they had not gotten that far in their brilliant plan.  
“You could change the colors of all the hangings,” Remus suggested. “They’ll be able to change it back pretty soon, but it would be a bit of a laugh.”  
“Yeah,” that’s good James said. “Do you know how to do that?”  
“Sure,” Remus said with a shrug. “It’s not hard.”  
“And, could you do a permanent sticking charm?” Sirius asked. “Because we wanted to hang up some posters, but neither of us could figure it out.”  
“Well, I suppose,” Remus said. “I had to do some to get labels on jars for my Dad. They all came of after a few weeks, but that’s something.”  
“That is something,” James agreed.  
“Do you want me to teach you?” Remus asked.  
“Well wouldn’t it make more sense for you to just come with us?” Sirius asked. “Unless, well, it would be breaking a lot of school rules.”  
“Well,” Remus said, taking in a deep breath. On the one hand, he was very lucky to be at Hogwarts, and he would hate to get expelled after only three months. On the other hand, he had friends for the first time in his life, and the danger was rather exciting. “What do you have for making sure we won’t get caught.”  
“Oh, right,” James said, pulling his bundle out of his trunk. He unrolled it with a flourish, pulled it over his shoulders, and vanished.  
“An invisibility cloak,” Remus explained, getting out if bed and immediately sat back down. He had risen to fast and gone a bit dizzy, so it took him a few seconds to get his bearing back. “Sorry,” He said, and rose more slowly this time and crossed the room to touch the cloak. “Wow, this has got to be really rare.”  
“Yeah,” James said proudly. “So you see, we can’t get caught. Are you in?”  
“Of course,” Remus said.  
“You’ll be feeling better?” Sirius asked.  
“Yeah,” Remus said, “I’ll just take a nap before we go and I’ll be fine. I should be back to normal in a few days anyway.”  
“Are you sure there’s nothing wrong with you?” James asked, “I mean, you’ve gotten sick almost every month so far.”  
“Every month,” Sirius corrected, then looking up he said, “You’re not a girl are you?”  
“What?” Remus asked, completely caught off guard by this question.  
“Well it would explain the monthly sickness, and never letting us see you naked,” Sirius said, and he did not appear to be joking.  
“Do I look like a girl?” Remus demanded.  
“Well no,” Sirius said, “But you could be a really masculine, really tall girl.”  
“And why would he pretend to be a bloke then?” James asked, frowning at Sirius.  
“I don’t know,” Sirius shrugged. “I’m just saying, we don’t have any proof.”  
“So what, I’m Joan of Arc with a really bad period?” Remus demanded. “I’m a boy.”  
“Prove it,” Sirius smiled grinning.  
“You want me to show you my penis?” Remus asked.  
“Well it’s only fair,” Sirius said, “you’ve seen ours. Show us yours.”  
If James thought this demand was a little odd he did not say so, which left Remus with only one option. “Well alright, it you insist,” He sighed. Most of his scars were on his upper body anyway, and he really did want to go with them tomorrow night. So, feeling incredibly foolish, he pulled down his pants and said, “There, I’m most definitely a boy.”  
“Okay, you’re a boy,” Sirius appeared, looking satisfied, but also a little… well Remus couldn’t say quite what.  
“Okay, so we’re all agreed Remus is a boy,” James said, as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened. “Now we really ought to practice hovering charms.”  
“Mind if I join?” Remus asked tentatively. True, he usually studied with James and Sirius, but that usually started with them asking him to give them his History of Magic notes, so he had never invited himself.  
“Of course,” James said, “but you’ll have to ask someone else for notes. You know mine are useless, and Sirius’ are worse.”  
“I’ll ask Lily,” Remus decided. “She always lets me borrow them when I’m sick.  
“Oh,” James said, suddenly looking very interested. “You talk to her?”  
“Yeah,” Remus said, not sure why this was surprising. “She gets the best marks and takes the best notes, that’s all.”  
“Yeah,” James said dreamily.  
“James fancies her,” Sirius explained. “But she won’t talk to him because she’s friends with Snape.”  
“I don’t know why,” James said. “He’s such a smarmy, dirty git.”  
“I see,” Remus said. “Well I suppose I could try to, you know, put in a good word with her. I think she likes me well enough.”  
“Would you,” James asked excitedly. “She doesn’t think much of Sirius either, but if you could convince her I’m not too bad maybe she’d warm up to me a bit.”  
“Why doesn’t she like you?” Remus asked.  
“She thinks he’s arrogant,” Sirius answered.  
Privately Remus thought she had a point, but James had defended him against Avery and had included him, and that meant a lot. Remus knew, of course, he would run as far as he could if he knew what Remus really was, but that was a different matter. Remus was worried, though. James and Sirius couldn’t help but notice his absences, and they were becoming less and less satisfied with his excuses.  
As if reading his friend’s mind,” James asked, “Where were you last night anyways?”  
“What do you mean?” Remus asked, maybe a little too defensively. “I was in the hospital wing, I told you.”  
“Well Sarah Hardley was there last night because she broke her arm in quiddich practice, and she said she didn’t see you at all.”  
“Well,” Remus said, thinking as quickly as he could. “I had the hangings drawn, and I was near the back of the room, so she wouldn’t have seen me. Plus, I’m sure she was paying attention to other things.”  
James didn’t look convinced, but maybe Remus’ tone told him to stop questioning. “If you say so,” he finally said.  
“Let’s go,” Sirius said, looking between his friends with a nervous expression. “I’ll get detention if I miss another assignment.”  
“Yeah,” James said, still looking quizzically at Remus, then turned his attention back to Sirius. “Yeah, let’s go.”

“Are you sure Peter’s asleep?” Remus whispered, gesturing to the fourth bed in the room.  
“Oh, right. I forgot about him,” James said, and strode over to Peter’s bed. Pulling aside the hangings he peered in on the sleeping boy and, satisfied, walked back to the door. “Out like a light. Sleeps like a bear, that one.”  
“Let’s go,” Sirius said, and James pulled the cloak over the three of them. When they walked into the stairway they almost hit Frank Longbottom on his way up to his room.  
“Good night,” he called to Alice, and swinging his arms, almost hit James, who had pressed himself flat against the wall.  
“That was close,” Sirius whispered as Frank disappeared up the spiral staircase. Remus nodded, his heart still pounding from the close call. A rational part of himself questioned whether this was a good idea, but a bigger part of him flushed with adrenaline and hurried down to the portrait hole.  
“Do you think she’ll stop us?” Remus asked.  
“No,” James said. “People come in late all the time, and she always threatens to report them. All bark, no bite.”  
As they swung the portrait hole open she cried, “Who’s there,” and when she saw nobody, called. “This isn’t funny, you know.” The trio walked away sniggering, and uninterested in her grumbling. They were out. James lead the way down to the dungeons, and the cloak covered the three of them surprisingly well. Remus suspected this might be another one of the cloak’s magical properties, but didn’t voice his theory. It seemed somehow wrong to speak with the castle so dark and quiet. They had been forced to light their wands to find their way, but it would be a dead giveaway if a teacher came, so they had to listen carefully for approaching footsteps.  
After going down several staircases, they found a large portrait of an emerald green snake. “A bit obvious,” Sirius whispered.  
Pulling off the cloak,” James walked up to the snake and confidently said, “Ascendency.”  
“Yessss,” the snake hissed, and swung forward to let them in. Cautiously, James climbed through the doorway behind and crept into the common room. Sirius and Remus followed, now without the cloak, at a signal from James.  
“Cool,” James said, surveying the common room. It was spacious and imposing. The armchairs and sofas had a grand, expensive look about them—far different from the cozy and well broken-in Gryffindor furniture. The pillars and walls were or black marble, with high windows that let in a faint greenish glow, even though it was the dead of night.  
“It’s kind of creepy,” Sirius said. “I bet not many Gryffindors have been here.”  
Remus was expecting some authority figure to appear at any moment and tell them off, but he found he didn’t mind the feeling so much. The anxiety was, well, thrilling. Still, getting the job done quickly wouldn’t hurt, so Remus walked to the Slytherin banners and tapped them with his wand, so they changed from silver and green to scarlet and gold.  
“Great,” Sirius said. “Help me with these.” He had somehow found not only several Gryffindor banners and posters, but several pictures of various magical celebrities; singers, quiddich players, and the like.  
“Are they all Gryffindors or something?” Remus asked.  
“No,” Sirius said, grinning. “Better. They are all muggle-born, or half blood.”  
“Brilliant,” James said. “They’ll hate that.”  
Remus smiled as well. Tapping each poster he sealed it to the wall and stepped back to admire his work. He was just thinking it was a job well done when he heard a door creak open up one of the staircases.  
“Cloak,” James hissed. “Quick.” They scrambled under the cloak as they heard footsteps pounding down the stairs. They had just made it to the door when a tall black-haired girl stepped into the common room and screamed. Laughing, they sprinted up the halls as fast as they could before pausing to catch their breath.  
“Did you see Bellatrix’s face,” Sirius said, cackling. “I won’t be surprised if the shock kills her.”  
“Brilliant,” James said. “We’ll just have to pretend we have no idea tomorrow. Oh, they’ll be so mad.”  
“Let’s get back to bed,” Remus said, looking around. He was getting a bit tired, and the sooner they got to bed, the sooner they would be safe. “Where are we?”  
“I don’t know,” James admitted. I just, sort of ran for it.”  
“What we need,” Sirius said, “is a good map. One that shows where we are so we can get back. It will take hours to find Gryffindor tower.”  
It in fact only took them an hour and a half to find the tower and the fat lady, disgruntled though she was, did not report them, and so they were in bed, asleep by the time any of the teachers knew what had happened. And though everyone, even the teachers, guessed that James and Sirius had been involved, they could prove nothing. When questioned, James merely pointed out that he could not perform a permanent sticking charm, even one that only turned out to last nine weeks.

“I hear they’ve still got three they can’t get down,” James said, greeting Sirius with a friendly snowball. It was a sunny, but cold Saturday afternoon and James, Remus and Sirius were the only people enjoying the winter’s day.  
“I’ll get you for that,” Sirius threatened, but as he had forgotten his gloves and had his hands shoved into his armpits, he did not look likely to follow up. “But yeah, that’s what I heard. It was still there, waiting for them after break.”  
“I hope it stays for a while,” Remus sighed. “I never want to forget the look on Avery’s face.”  
“And nobody even suspects you,” Sirius exclaimed. “No, they’re all ‘Potter, Black, where where you last night?’ But do they suspect Remus Lupin, star student? No. Is it fair?”  
“I don’t set off dung bombs in class,” Remus pointed out. “Or get my fanged Frisbee confiscated in the first week. I have been nothing but well behaved.”  
“Only you have set of a dung bomb in class,” James pointed out.  
“It was history of magic,” Remus said. “And Binns didn’t notice, so it hardly counts.”  
“You also put that hex on Avery so his tongue wouldn’t stop growing,” Sirius reminded him.  
“He shouldn’t have called Lily a mudblood,” Remus justified. “And you two both hexed him as well.  
“Which is why Flitwick didn’t know one was yours,” Sirius exclaimed. “Did you have to spend three hours cleaning owl dropping in a blizzard. I mean, what is the point of cleaning the owlery if they’ll only go and mess it up immediately after.  
“I did get that one detention for releasing that bow truckle in the restricted section,” Remus pointed out. “And the two of you had five detentions for things I wasn’t even involved in. You have no subtlety. If Peter hadn’t snitched on me Madame Pince would never have suspected me.”  
“Yeah, Peter’s a pain,” James complained. “Always following James around after our first flying lessons. ‘James, is the cleansweep or the comet a better series?’ ‘James, how to you stay on your broom while using both hands to catch a quaffle?’ ‘James, James, James.’ You’d think he was in love with me or something.”  
“Well maybe he is,” Sirius pointed out.  
“Ugh, and I’d have to share a room with him. God, I’d hate to have a poofer as a roommate.” Remus stopped dead. He couldn’t explain why his face flushed and his stomach twisted, but he suddenly felt very hot. Stopping, James turned around and saw that both Sirius and Remus looking angry and offended. “Sorry,” he said quickly. “My uncle’s gay, and he’s alright, really. I don’t have anything against gay people, I’m just saying it’d be annoying, you know, if Peter was.”  
“Yeah, well, I’m straight,” Sirius said firmly. “So you don’t have to worry about that.” He turned towards remus as if challenging him, but what he was being challenged on Remus couldn’t tell.  
“I’m not gay either,” Remus said quickly. To be honest he didn’t care much about girls, but he supposed he’d just have to grow into that. “But I wouldn’t care if either of you were, honest.”  
“Well I’m not,” Sirius declared, and turning away said. “Why do you think they planted that bloody thing?”  
“What?” James asked, then, following Sirius’ gaze, noticed the whomping willow. “Oh that? I bet it just grew there.”  
“No it didn’t,” Sirius said. “Hagrid was complaining over break about what a pain it was to re-plant.”  
“How was it staying here over Christmas,” Remus said, eager to keep the conversation away from anything connected to his transformations.  
“Fine,” Sirius said, kicking a patch of ice. “Better than it would have been at home at least. Hey, can I borrow your gloves for a minute?”  
“Sure,” Remus said, taking off his gloves and handing them to his friend. He shoved his hands into his pockets and watched Sirius pack a snowball and throw it at James.  
“Hey,” James cried, and wheeled around. It didn’t take much goading to get Remus to join the snowball fight, and soon they were running about, hurling fistfuls of snow at one another once they lost the patience for forming balls. Eventually Sirius abandoned all pretense and leaped at Remus, pushing him into a snowbank.  
“Oy,” Remus said, laughing. “You’ll get me wet.  
“You know that drying off spell,” Sirius said, standing up and helping Remus up.  
“Watch this,” James said, holding a snowball. But instead of throwing it at Sirius, he hurled it at the whomping willow, which reached out with a branch to meet the snowball.  
“Cool,” Sirius said, reaching down to make a ball. Feeling uneasy, Remus tried to think of a way to get his friends away from the tree.  
“Maybe we should go in,” Remus said, trying to keep him voice even.  
“Oh come on,” James said. “It’s fun.” Sirius hurled the snowball and managed to hit the trunk, which reared up to meet the snowball. “Bet you can’t touch it,” James said, goading Sirius.  
“Watch me,” Sirius said, racing off.  
“That’s not a good idea,” Remus began to say, but it was pointless, Sirius was already halfway to the tree. One of the branches swung out at him, and, leaping out of the way, he hit the bough as it swung away from him. Laughing, he ran back.  
“I got close,” He said to James. “Your turn. Bet you can’t get a root.”  
“Those things are strong,” Remus cautioned.  
“Don’t be a killjoy,” James said. Remus stepped backwards, as if physically stung by James’ words, even though he had not meant anything by it. Sprinting towards the tree he ducked under one bough, but didn’t notice one of the roots curl up. Sirius and Remus’ warnings came to late as, with a crack and a thud the root shot out and launched James about twenty feet.  
“Shit,” Sirius screamed as he and Remus rushed to James. “What do we do?”  
“I’ll get Hagrid,” Remus said. “You stay with him. Don’t move him for any reason, and try to keep him conscious if you can.” Turning on his heels, he sprinted off to Hagrid’s hut where smoke was rising from the chimney.  
“Hagrid,” He shouted, bursting through the door without receiving an answer. Hagris was sitting at his table having a cup of tea with Lily Evans.  
“Remus?” He asked, turning to the door.  
“Sorry, but it’s an emergency,” Remus said, breathless. “It’s James, he and Sirius were trying to touch the whomping willow, and, well, James got… whomped.”  
“He didn’t,” Hagrid said, standing up. Remus was pretty sure he saw Lily roll her eyes. Grabbing his flowery pink umbrella, Hagrid strode out of his cabin and towards the willow. “Why didn’t you stop him,” He demanded, turning on Remus.  
“I tried,” Remus protested. “I did, but he thought it would be a laugh.”  
“Bloody kids,” Hagrid muttered, and finding James said, “You awake Potter?”  
“No, he’s been out cold,” Sirius said, kneeling beside James.  
“Did you take his pulse?” Remus asked.  
“Pulse?” Sirius asked, looking James. “What’s a pulse.  
“Nevermind,” Remus said, “It’s a muggle thing but how are we going to get him to the castle; he shouldn’t be moved.  
“Just a moment,” Hagrid said, brandishing his umbrealla. “You boys didn’t see this.” With one flash of light he summoned a stretcher, and with a second he lifted James onto the stretcher and walked to the castle, the stretcher hovering a few feet behind him.  
“Whoa,” Sirius said, following several paces behind Hagrid’s great strides. “What do you think that was?”  
“It looked like his wand was in the umbrella for some reason,” Remus said. “But we probably shouldn’t mention it.”  
“How did you know not to move him?” Sirius asked.  
“I once fell out of a third story once,” Remus explained. “I remember my dad saying that to my mum before I blacked out.”  
“Did you fall out a window?” Sirius asked.  
“Well, no,” Remus said, immediately knowing he should have lied. “I sort of blasted through the wall. I was young you know, and didn’t have much control over my magic yet.”  
“You blasted out a wall,” James said, incredulous. “How old were you?”  
“Ten,” Remus answered. That was part was true, but it had been during a full moon. His wolf body had been strong enough to break down the wall with not thought to the consequences and broken a leg fractured his spine. The pain burned the memory into his mind, though he rarely remembered anything as a wolf. Regardless, his father had been forced to knock him out so they could safely bring him to St. Mungo’s. It had been a complicated case. They couldn’t work well on him when he was still in wolf form, and his father had used some pretty strong spells to subdue him. It takes a lot to stop a werewolf. The wolf body will continue to use up energy until there is nothing left, often leading to death. Overall, it was not a good memory, but it had come in handy.  
“I just hope he’ll be fine,” Sirius said.  
“He’ll be fine,” Remus said. “Madame Pomfrey’s very good. When she set my arm I barely felt a thing.”  
“When did you break your arm?” Sirius asked.  
Shit, Remus thought. He really was a horrible liar. “About a month ago. Fell down the stairs. But she fixed it up right away so it wasn’t worth mentioning. I broke my bones all the time as a kid falling out of trees and stuff, so they’re pretty brittle.”  
“Your body’s kind of a mess,” Sirius pointed out.  
“Yeah,” Remus agreed. “I had pretty bad luck in that way. Pretty bad luck indeed.”

James healed quickly, and his time in the hospital wing, and the time he and Sirius spent in detention for approaching the willow did not put a stop to his troublemaking. Detention became almost a weekly occurrence for him and Sirius, and on this particular adventure Remus had found himself dragged along as well. As always it had not been his plan, but he had not stopped James from Spilling oil in front of Filch’s office, and he had followed Sirius into the office once Filch limped off to the hospital wing and rooted through the drawers looking for James’ Frisbee, and so he had looked very guilty indeed when McGonagall strode in to see what the commotion was about. And so here he was, wasting one of the first, beautiful Sundays of spring—which they had hoped to spend playing with the Frisbee—in McGonagall’s office hearing about the kind of behavior expected from Gryffindors.  
“You could have seriously hurt Mr. Filch,” She admonished. “And with your history,” she added, turning to James and Sirius, “it seems more drastic measures must be taken. So, apart from losing twenty points from Gryffindor apiece, you will each be attending a detention every night this week, and I assure you I will make them as unpleasant as possible. Am I making myself clear?”  
“Yes professor,” they said in unison.  
“You are not to miss a single detention for any reason,” She said, as Sirius had been late to his last three detentions. Remus’ heart sank. He would be transforming in four days. Detention would not only be impossible on Thursday, but exhausting on every other.  
“Um,” Remus said, but cut himself off.  
“What?” McGonagall demanded.  
“Nothing,” Remus said. “I’ll ask later.”  
“You’ll ask now,” she said, shooting daggers at him with her eyes.  
“Well it’s just, well, I don’t know if I can come every night,” He said feebly. James and Sirius gave you incredulous looks. He knew he must sound incredibly stupid.  
“Yes, and I suppose you have better things to do,” she fumed.  
“Well to be honest I’d rather be in detention,” Remus said, before his brain could catch up with his mouth. James and Sirius would definitely read into it. “But I can’t. It’s.. it’s bad timing.”  
“Bad timing?” McGonagall demanded. Remus thought she might shoot steam out of her nostrils. “What could you possibly have that would take precedence?”  
“I have that… that thing on Thursday,” He said lamely, trying to ignore the look on his friends’ faces. “If you just check your calendar.”  
“I don’t…” McGonagall began, but Remus saw comprehension dawn across her face. “You mean…” She said, glancing at Sirius and James. Remus nodded. “Oh,” she said, calming down considerably. “We will make other arrangements,” she said finally, then looking at the three of them, “You may go now. And I don’t want anymore trouble from the three of you this year.”  
The three of them rushed from McGonagall’s office as quickly as possible, not pausing to talk until they had reached the safety of the grounds.  
“What are you doing on Thursday?” James demanded as soon as they had gotten a good twenty feet from the castle.  
“I—“ Remus began, but could not think how to continue. “I have to do something, um, off campus.”  
“Another mysterious disappearance,” James asked. “We’re beginning to think you’re hiding something.”  
“It’s, um, it’s my mum,” Remus said quickly, thinking as quickly as he could. “She’s, uh, she’s sick, and I have to go visit her.”  
“Oh,” James said, looking a little uncomfortable. Remus blushed a little at the blatant lie. “Oh,” James repeated. “What’s wrong with her.”  
“Cancer,” Remus lied. “It’s a muggle thing.”  
“Is she really sick?” Sirius asked. “I mean, is she going to…”  
“She’s not going to die,” Remus said. “I just need to see her before she has surgery.”  
“Surgery?” James asked.  
“It’s where muggle doctors cut somebody open and sew things together or cut things out,” Remus explained.  
“That’s horrible,” Sirius exclaimed. “That sounds like it would kill someone.”  
“It doesn’t usually,” Remus insisted. “They just can’t do the things we can do so they have to make do. It’s quite effective, really. Besides, wizarding remedies don’t really work on muggles. My dad tried to give my mum a headache cure once and it went really wrong. She had to go to St. Mungo’s. They have a whole wing for muggles that get exposed to wizard stuff.” He paused for breathe and realized he had been babbling.  
“Anyways,” Remus said, “Look what I got.”  
“You didn’t get the Frisbee did you?” James asked.  
“No,” Remus said sadly, “but I did get this.” Out of his pocket he pulled a crumpled piece of parchment and spread it out on the grass. “It’s a map of Hogwarts,” He said proudly.  
“Whoa,” James said, “Look at all those passages. We should explore, with the cloak at night. Imagine if all of these are real.”  
“Yeah,” Sirius agreed, bending over the map. “And look! Some of these leave the grounds. I bet they go to Hogsmead.”  
“Yeah, some of them must,” James agreed. “But I suppose Filch knows about all these.”  
“I don’t know,” Remus mused. “It was at the bottom of a lot of papers. And even if he does know, he can’t be at every passage all the time, and if we have the cloak he won’t know either way.”  
“If only it would show us where Filch was at all times,” Sirius sighed. “Then it would be perfect.”

“Remus,” James called, running up the stairs of the boys’ dormitory. Bursting into the room he stopped dead upon seeing Lily Evans. “Hi,” he said dumbly, after about ten seconds.  
“Hello,” She said coldly. “I was just letting Remus have my notes.”  
Thanks,” Remus said as she rose to leave. “I’ll get them back to you tomorrow once I’m done copying.”  
“I can bring note,” James blurted out.  
“What?” Lily asked.  
“I can bring you your notes once Remus is done with them,” James said, looking desperately as Lily.  
“I think I’ll wait, thanks,” Lily said, and, flipping her hair over her shoulder, strode from the room.  
“I don’t think she likes you much mate,” Remus joked. “I tried putting in a good word, but she is going to take Snivellus’ side on this.”  
“That little toerag,” James muttered. “What does she see in him?”  
“I think she feels bad that you keep hexing him in front of the whole class,” Remus pointed out.  
“No less than he deserves,” James said, then, looking over at the notes Remus was copying said, “Doesn’t she have nice handwriting?”  
“This is my handwriting, James,” Remus said, taking his parchment back.  
“Oh,” James said. “Well, it’s very neat.”  
“What were you going to tell me?” Remus asked. “Or did you just shout my name up the stairs for fun?”  
“Oh, right,” James said, pulling the map from his pocket. “Sirius and I explored most of the astronomy tower during break and all the passages seem right, except one, which we fixed, here.” Remus leaned over to inspect James’ handiwork. The three of them had been scouring the castle for the last few days by day and night. The detentions had seriously impinged on their progress, but by taking the cloak out at night they had covered most of the north wing of the castle. The fourth floor passage out of the castle had brought them to a halt, as they could not figure out how to get behind the mirror.  
“Are you guys going to explore anymore tonight?” Remus asked.  
“Nah,” James sighed. “Too much homework. Is McGonagall making you make-up your detentions?”  
“Hasn’t yet,” Remus answered.  
“Probably feels bad about your mum,” James said. “How is your mum?”  
“She’s alright,” Remus said. “It was good to see her.”  
“How’d you go home?” James asked. “Floo? You got in early. James came back in after breakfast and you were asleep.”  
“Yeah,” Remus said. “I didn’t sleep much last night.”  
“You look like shit,” Sirius said, entering the room. “Well, you look like shit about once a month.”  
Remus’ heart raced to hear Sirius mention that his sicknesses came monthly, but neither Sirius nor James dwelled on that observation. “Did either of you read the paper this morning?” Remus asked  
“No,” James said, reaching for the copy of The Daily Prophet lying on Remus’ side table.  
“It’s Voldemort,” Remus said. “He murdered this muggle family in Dorset. It’s happening more and more, almost one report a week.”  
“People are starting to say he’s almost as bad as Grindelwald,” James said, browsing the article.  
“Well then we just need to get Dumbledore to finish him off,” Sirius declared. “That’s what did Grindelwald in.”  
“Yeah, but Dumbledore’s a lot older now,” James argued. “He was still young when he fought Grindelwald.”  
“I bet he could still do it,” Sirius insisted.  
“He must be pretty powerful to maintain these protective enchantments,” Remus mused. “They take a lot of energy, and on a place as big as Hogwarts. Some of the charms were done centuries ago, but still, my dad says they drain almost half his normal powers, and that’s just every once and a while.”  
“Maybe that’s why my dad never does anything,” Sirius laughed. “He has about a hundred protective charms on our house. Why he’d want to protect it is beyond me. The place is fucking creepy. Ages ago they started mounting elf heads on the wall.”  
“Heads?” Remus asked, disgusted.  
“Heads,” Sirius confirmed. “They’re all shrunken and dried up. And then there’s Kreacher, the living one, and he’s not much of a laugh either. Just skulks around and talks about how much of a family disappointment I am.”  
“Wish I had a house elf,” James sighed.  
“Your family’s rich enough,” Sirius said.  
“Yes, but it’s new money. You have to have a family that goes back ages to get a house elf. I mean, mum just hires people, so I guess it’s fine.”  
“Don’t you guys have to clean anything?” Remus asked.  
“Nah,” Sirius said, grinning. “I can leave my shit wherever I want, and my mum just yells at Kreacher to pick it up. Apparently picking up your socks is not seemly behavior for a wizard. Like she’s too good for it or something.”  
“No offense, but your mum sounds like a right bitch,” James said. Sirius laughed.  
“Yeah, you’ve got that right,” He agreed. “Can’t wait to get away from her this summer.” As soon as the words came out, an awkward silence fell between the three friends. Remus had known James had invited Sirius to spend the summer with him, but he didn’t want to be reminded of it.  
“Look Remus, I can ask my parents if you can come too,” James said, though Remus could tell he didn’t fully mean. He knew that James and Sirius were closer to one another than to him, and they would surely like the time together.  
“No,” Remus said. “My parents need the help at home. Dad’s business is pretty busy in the summer. It’s a good time for harvesting a lot of things.” Besides, it would be hard to cover a transformation at somebody else’s house.  
“Isn’t child labor illegal?” Sirius asked. “I mean, you’re like a slave.”  
“Chores aren’t the same as slavery,” Remus laughed. Truthfully, though it was his fault his family had to move every few years and his father would have to set up business again and again. Hopefully his time at Hogwarts would mean the neighbors would take longer to discover his affliction. “Anyways,” he said. “you’d better hurry or you’ll be late for detention.”  
“Oh shit,” Sirius said, picking up his bag. “She’ll double it if we’re late. Three hours writing lines! I’d rather be pickling cat vomit.”  
“That’s why she’s making you write lines,” Remus said with a grin. “Trying to make it as miserable as possible.”

“After this I never want to take another exam in my life,” Sirius declared, emerging into the sunny grounds.  
“Well if you ever want to get a job the OWLs with come in handy,” Remus pointed out. “But it wasn’t that bad.”  
“Well you studied all year,” James groaned. “We had to stay up all night the whole week.”  
“Well I stayed up too,” Remus insisted. “And I managed to get behind that mirror on the fourth floor.”  
“How?” James demanded. “I’ve been trying for months.”  
“Partis Temporis,” Remus answered proudly. “Mostly used to part fire or smoke, but it sort of melts the mirror for a few moments.”  
“Let’s go,” Sirius said, grinning. He sprinted back up the steps, Remus and James a few steps behind. He didn’t pause until he was at the mirror, catching his breath. “Partis Temporis,” He panted, then the three of them hurried through the mirror which had temporarily dissolved into smoke.  
“Cool,” James said, looking around. The passageway was wide—almost as wide as the entryway, and narrowed down until it mat a staircase at the end. “Should we go?” James asked, jerking his head towards the staircase. “Bet it leads to Hogsmeade. We can get some candy to celebrate the end of turn.”  
Grinning, Remus walked towards the staircase. “I bet we’re some of the worst rule-breakers Hogwarts has ever seen. Staying up all night mapping and marauding.”  
“That’s perfect!” Sirius exclaimed. “The Marauder’s Map. That’ll be us, the three Marauders.”  
“How about four?”  
Spinning around, Remus saw the small stature of Peter Pettigrew standing just behind the mirror.  
“Sorry to follow you,” He stammered, “But I heard you mention a secret passageway and it seemed, well, cool.”  
Remus glanced at Sirius and James, who shrugged with a look of resignation. “Sure Peter,” He sighed. “But you should know, there are many responsibilities and secrets to being a marauder. The first rule is to cause mayhem at all times.”  
Nodding, Peter said, “I solemnly swear that I will be up to no good.”  
James grinned.


	2. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Year two at Hogwarts, and the Marauders learn their friend's secret

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Body shame due to scars / being forced to reveal scars

The Hogwarts express let out a loud whistle warning straggling students that they only had a few minutes to get in.  
“Mum,” Remus complained as his mother planted another kiss on his cheek. “You’re going to make me late.”  
Alright dear,” Hope said, releasing her son. “Be good this year. I don’t want to hear about any more detentions.”  
“Okay,” Remus said, running to the train with his fingers crossed behind his back. He had spent the summer sending letters to James and Sirius with new ideas of mischief they could get up to. He had packed his bag full of dung bombs, Peruvian instant darkness powder, and biting teacups. He was particularly looking forward to Sirius’ plan to switch the soap around campus out for frogspawn soap. It didn’t take him long to find Sirius and James’ compartment—he simply followed the loud banging noises and smoke.  
Coughing, Remus pushed his way into the compartment to see James desperately rummaging around in his trunk.  
“The firecrackers went off,” Sirius explained at Remus’ quizzical look.  
“Anything catch fire?” Remus asked.  
“Luckily, no,” Sirius laughed, leaning against the train seat. “Did either of you pack any?”  
“No,” Remus answered. “There’s no way I was going to get firecrackers past the parents. Plus, I didn’t have the pocket money. The instant darkness powder took most of my savings.”  
“I’ve got some,” James said. “And I can order more from Zonko’s. Or we can take one of the passages to Hogsmeade: We still need explore the other six.”  
“Except we know one is right under the whomping willow,” James pointed out. “So that one’s definitely out.”  
“Maybe that’s why they planted it,” Peter piped up. “To stop students from sneaking off.”  
“Either way, I don’t think we should go snooping around that one too much,” Remus interjected. “James broke, what was it, seven ribs?”  
“Nine,” James said proudly. “But it was a laugh. One day I’ll figure out how to get past that thing.” Remus groaned and helped Sirius lift his trunk back onto the luggage rack. James and Sirius were the kind of people who could leave no questions unasked, no mystery unsolved, no secret passageway uncharted.  
“Hey where’d you get that?” Peter asked, pulling at Remus’ shirt.  
“Wow, that’s a crazy scar,” James said, looking at Remus’ exposed side before he could pull his shirt back down.  
“It’s nothing,” He said.  
“Let me see,” Sirius demanded, but Remus had pulled a jacket on for extra coverage. “Did you ever get mauled by a bear or something?” He asked, laughing.  
“No,” Remus said, then added. “If you must know I fell off my broom and landed on a fence and got cut up.”  
“You really do get in a lot of accidents,” James pointed out.  
“I’m clumsy,” Remus insisted, but he could tell his friends sensed he was not being completely honest.  
“If you insist,” James said, sitting down next to Peter. “But we will figure out your secret eventually.”  
“In the meantime,” Sirius said, “Maybe we should go greet Snivellus. I hope he’s had a lousy summer.”  
“Yeah,” James agreed standing up. “Remus?”  
“No,” Remus said. While he did not like Snape much, he thought James and Sirius had a tendency to cross the line. “I think two on one should be enough.”  
James blushed a little, but hurried after Sirius shouting, “Oy, Snivellus.” Peter scurried after him, no doubt wanting to be seen with his two more popular friends. Settling back into his seat, he opened his latest book on goblin wars and waited until his friends returned. It didn’t take five minutes before he heard shouting, a crash of broken glass, a loud thump, and then running footsteps. Setting down his book, he saw James rushing back into the compartment, grasping his forearm, which was bleeding.  
“The little bugger cut me,” He cried, shoving his arm in Remus’ face. “See?”  
“It’s not that deep,” Remus said, almost scoldingly as Sirius and Peter appeared behind James. “I’ll bind it up for you. It’d be a waste of dittany.” He only had to rummage in his trunk for a few minutes before he found some bandages and ripped off a length to wrap up James arm. “Do you know what spell he used?” He asked out of interest. “Because some magical wounds won’t heal normally. I doubt Snape can perform any of those though.”  
“It started with an s or something like that,” Sirius said. “I tried to disarm him but the spell missed and shattered the window. But Lucius saw it all, so I’m sure we’ll have a detention waiting for us when we get back.”  
“Hm,” Remus said, tying off James’ bandage. “I don’t think the teacher’s would be too pleased Snape used some spell to cut James’ arm open. It could be a really serious curse if done by a more powerful wizard. I’m not sure Lucius would want to get Snape in trouble. But still, serves you right for picking a fight. Lily won’t be pleased either.”  
“I know,” James groaned. “I wasn’t trying to start a duel though. He pulled his wand first.”  
“And you were just an innocent by-stander in the wrong place at the wrong time?” Remus asked.  
“Well, strictly speaking, no,” James said. “Anyways, may as well leave them alone for the rest of the ride. Exploding snap anyone?”

As it turned out Lucius had little interest in protecting Snape so Sirius, James, Peter and Snape all got detentions. Having finished his homework, Remus returned to the statue of the one-eyed crone to try and figure out how to get past it. As far as he could tell Filch didn’t know about this one. Filch had been guarding three of the passages with some regularity, but not this one, the one behind the fourth floor mirror, or the one in the dungeons. Taking out his spell books he flipped to the index and looked for unlocking charms. Neither open sesame nor alohamora worked, and portaberto made a small explosion that brought Professor Haggerty—the lasts defense against the dark arts teacher—running. Remus managed to dive under the cloak just in time and after a few minutes Professor Haggerty returned to his study, muttering about Peeves under his breath. After giving himself a few more minutes, Remus tried the next one—Dissendium. To is surprise, the charm worked and the crone’s hump opened wide enough for him to clamber in and slide into a passageway.  
The tunnel was a little smaller than the one leading to the shack, but only took about ten minutes to get to a spiral staircase. He figured he had to be somewhere in Hogsmeade, and, listening for anyone on the other side, he opened the trapdoor at the top of the stairs. Looking around, he saw a room full of wooden crates with labels like Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans, and Fizzing Whizbees. Grinning, Remus assumed he must be in the Honeydukes’ cellar. He would have to come back here with James and Sirius and more money. Looking around to make sure he was alone, Remus opened the crate of Frogs, shoved a few handfuls into his bag, and left some knuts and one silver sickle in their place. Before returning to the passage, he added a small bubble with the word dissendium next to the passage entrance, and tapped it so it would only appear when asked for. He could not wait to see the looks on his friends’ faces when he told them what he had found. 

“Wicked,” James whispered, looking around the empty store. “How perfect! A passage that leads right to a candy shop. I wonder if the owners know.”  
“If they do they haven’t told anyone at Hogwarts,” Remus answered. “It will definitely be in our best interests not to be noticed though.”  
“Have any of you ever had a cockroach cluster?” Peter asked, picking up a jar in the section labeled “unusual tastes.”  
“Sure,” Sirius said. “They’re not bad: try some.” A few moments later when Peter began to make gagging noises he burst out laughing.  
Red in the face, Peter spit out a half-chewed mass of cockroach as gasped. “That was horrible.”  
“Well it was hilarious for us,” Sirius said unapologetically. “Don’t believe everything you hear Peter.”  
“Especially not if either of them says it,” Remus added. “Nobody is safe from an opportunity for a good laugh.”  
“Anywhere else we should go?” James asked looking out the window and down the street. “Three broomsticks is open.”  
“Madame Rosmerta is going to know that four twelve-year-olds are supposed to be in the castle,” Remus pointed out. “But they might not mind at the Hog’s Head.”  
“Yeah,” Sirius said. “Let’s go. We can get butterbeer.”  
And so, scrambling under the cloak, they let themselves out of Honeydukes—leaving appropriate payment on the front counter—and walked down the road to the Hog’s Head.  
“Who should go in?” James asked, pausing outside the door.  
“Scared?” Sirius teased.  
“No,” James defended. “But this was your idea so it’s only fair.”  
“No,” Sirius said. “It’s just, well we’ve gotten a lot of detentions and we’d be in so much trouble. Peter?” Peter only let out a squeal of fright in response.  
“Oh for Heaven’s sake,” Remus sighed, ducking out from under the cloak. Feeling one part nervous one part self-satisfied Remus strode in through the front door, into the empty bar, andwalked up to the bar and said clearly to the blue-eyed barman. “Four butterbeers please.”  
The barman raised one eyebrow, but put four rather grubby looking bottles on the counter. “You come through Hondeyduke’s?” He asked. “Or the one that leads to the shed behind Zonko’s?”  
“Honeydukes,” Remus spluttered.  
“Secret passages are meant to be used,” the barman explained. “We get a fair amount of revenue from kids smart enough to find them. Just don’t get caught, or you could get me in a decent bit of trouble.”  
“Thank you,” Remus said, then reaching his hand across the bar said, “Remus Lupin.”  
“Aberforth,” the barman responded. “Should I count on seeing quite a bit of you?”  
“Yes,” Remus responded. “I expect you will.”

“what’s that crowd about?” Remus asked, trying to push past the queue of people around the noticeboard.  
“Quidditch try-outs,” Sirius said. “James signed up of course. And Peter, but he obviously won’t get in.”  
“Did you?” Remus asked.  
“Nah,” Sirius said. “I’m strictly a fair-weather flyer. But I think I’ll watch. I love watching people making fools of themselves.”  
“I suppose we should at least watch James,” Remus said. “Should be fun. Is he as good as he thinks he is?”  
“As usual, yes,” Sirius said. “I think he’ll make the team. He’s fast, and he’s better than Robert Mauntell, but it’d be a pretty big upset if he got kicked off for James. Still, it’d be the right thing to do.”  
When Remus made his way down to the quidditch pitch that afternoon he found Lily sitting in the stands and sat down next to her. She shot Sirius a dirty look—probably because he had made Snape vomit slugs during Charms that morning—but didn’t protest.”  
“Do you play?” He asked.  
“No,” She said. “But I’ve always liked watching. It’s worlds better than football. Sometimes all this stuff still feels so new to me.”  
“My grandparents don’t know I’m a wizard, so my granddad takes me to matches. They also doesn’t understand why I never watch telly or why I’m going to a school they’ve never heard of.”  
“My parents told all the family, and then they got in a fair bit of trouble with the Ministry, and they had to go around wiping their memories.”  
“How did your parents react when they found out you were a witch?” Remus asked.  
“Relieved, to be honest,” Lily said. “They were so glad there was a good explanation for why I could do all these funny things. Pet didn’t take it well though.”  
“That’s you’re sister?” Remus asked.  
“Yeah, she doesn’t really talk to me anymore,” Lily sighed. “But it really must be hard for her. She really wanted to go too at first, but now she doesn’t want anything to do with magic.”  
“Do you ever wish you were normal like her?” Remus asked. “I mean, it could be nice to just be like everyone else.”  
“No,” Lily said. “No, it just wouldn’t be who I am, and it would feel wrong. I hate pretending when I’m around my family. I just feel like I’m not being honest, and I feel like I can’t just be myself fully.”  
“But don’t you worry they’ll find out?” Remus asked. “And maybe they’d be like your sister and not want to talk to you?”  
“I don’t know,” Lily said, thinking. “I figure if people really love you, they’ll be ok with you however you are, even if it’s different, and maybe not what they wanted or expected. If they really care, I figure they’ll come around. I hope Petunia will come around eventually, but maybe we’re just too different for that.”  
“Remus, it’s James’ turn,” Sirius said, elbowing his friend in the ribs  
Turning his attention to the field, Remus saw James easily enough—he was the smallest of the pitch, even smaller than the seeker.  
“He is fast,” Remus said as James flew towards the quaffle. “And good,” remus added when James caught the ball and scored. “Better than Mauntell.”  
In the next five minutes James scored three times, much to the applause. Everyone in the Gryffindor stands stood and cheered—everyone but Lily.  
“This will feed his ego for about a month,” Remus whispered to Sirius.  
“I know,” Sirius said, grinning. “We’re going to be hearing about that last goal all week. And then he’ll get onto the rest.”  
“If he wins any games he’ll be unbearable,” Remus joked.  
“Come on,” Sirius whispered. “Let’s get drinks for the after-party. At the Hog’s Head.”  
“Should we get Peter?” Remus asked, looking over at his friend who was watching the tryouts intently.  
“Nah,” Sirius said, “He seems to be enjoying himself. Let’s just go together.”  
“Okay,” Remus said, following his friend. He liked chances to be alone with Sirius. He and James almost always came as a pair, so it was rare for Remus to spend any time with either of them individually. He certainly spent a good bit of time with Peter while James and Sirius were off causing trouble or in detention. While James sometimes intimidated him with his popularity, Remus always felt more comfortable with Sirius. Sirius was friendlier, easy-going, and mostly just wanted a laugh out of life.  
Remus and Sirius took the passage from the dungeons to the shed behind Zonko’s as it bought them to the Hog’s Head with a lower chance of getting caught, and, as they did not have the cloak.  
“Do you reckon Lily will ever like James?” Sirius asked.  
“Do you think James will ever get less full of himself?” Remus answered.  
“Not likely,” Sirius agreed. “But he likes her so much, that’s got to count for something, right?”  
“I don’t know,” Remus said. “I guess some things just aren’t meant to happen.”  
“Oh,” Sirius said.  
“What, do you fancy someone?” Remus asked, amused.  
“No,” Sirius said quickly. “I just wish she would give him a chance. I mean, he’s not bad.”  
“No, he’s a pretty great friend,” Remus agreed. “Maybe one day it will work out with them. If he stops hexing Snape.”  
“If he stops hexing Snape I’ll give you a thousand chocolate frogs,” James joked.  
“Now I want chocolate,” Remus said, digging through his pockets.  
“You know, it’s not normal how much chocolate you eat,” Sirius said. “You even smell like chocolate.”  
“I do?” Remus asked.  
“Yeah,” Sirius said. “Like chocolate and old books.”  
“Do you spend a lot of time smelling people?” Remus asked. As a werewolf he had an above average sense of smell, and could recognize most people by scent even before he saw them, but he didn’t think this was quite normal.  
“No,” Sirius said. “But I live with you, so it’s just one of those things you notice. What do I smell like?”  
“You smell like rain,” Remus answered, “And sweat.”  
“That’s not nice,” Sirius said, sniffing his armpits.  
“Not in a bad way,” Remus amended. “Not like stale sweat, but like you’ve just been running sweat. It’s not bad, it’s kind of nice actually.”  
“So I smell like sweat, but it’s nice?” Sirius asked.  
“Sort of,” Remus answered. “I’m not explaining it well.”  
“Well, we’re here anyway,” Sirius said. “Let’s get some butterbeer.”

“Which stars are in Orion’s belt?” James asked, looking up from his astronomy paper at Remus.  
Remus, who was used to doing half of his friends’ work—not that they couldn’t o it themselves, they simply disliked it—was surprised to hear Sirius answer, “Alnitak Alnilam and Mintaka.”  
“Nice,” James said, scribbling the names down. “How’d you know that?”  
“Most of my family’s named after starts,” Sirius answered. “My Dad’s Orion, I’m Sirius, like the Dog Star.”  
“That’s appropriate,” Remus said, grinning. “You’re basically just a dog on two legs.”  
“Yeah, you’ve got to give that one to my parents,” Sirius agreed. “Anyways, when’s the next full moon?”  
“Six days,” Remus answered a little too quickly, then reddened.  
“Do you know everything?” Sirius laughed, but James was looking at him oddly with creased eyebrows.  
Before James could respond, however, Peter piped in, asking, “Where’s the big dipper on here?” Laughing at Peter’s expense, Remus leaned over and helped Peter draw the constellation on his star chart.

Later that night Remus was enjoying a nice, hot shower before bed. One of the best perks of being only one of four boys in his house that year was the bathroom access. Derek, a Hufflepuff had been telling him of the difficulties faced by ten boys sharing one bathroom. Gryffindor, traditionally one of the smaller houses, enjoyed such benefits. Turning off the tap, Remus reached out from the shower curtain to take his pajamas from the hook and found only a towel. His post-shower good mood vanished immediately and he felt an all too familiar sinking sensation in his gut. He was, once again, no doubt a victim of one of James’ or Sirius’ pranks, but this one would not be vary funny.  
Werewolf bites and scratches don’t heal easily, and they always leave deep scars. On top of the gashes and bites Greyback had given him all those years ago there were also the ones he had inflicted upon himself during transformations. All told, it was hard to see his naked body and not know he had been attacked by something vicious.  
“James,” Remus called, opening the bathroom door slightly. “Sirius? Did you take my clothes?” His only answer was a peel of laughter. This had happened to Peter two days, so he should have been expecting it. Cursing, Remus added. “It’s not funny. I really need them.”  
“Oh come on Remus,” Sirius called. “Don’t be such a prude!”  
“Yeah, come on out Remus,” James echoed.  
“This really isn’t funny,” Remus insisted, starting to panic. “Please, give me back my clothes.  
“It’s just a joke,” James laughed. “Come on, we left the towel since you’re so shy.”  
There was nothing left for it. Knowing he was done for, Remus tie the towel around his waist and, hoping to ge this over as quickly as possible, hurried across the room to his trunk. As soon as he walked through the door, the laughter and sniggering ceased abruptly. He saw the look of mirth on Sirius’ face fall into an expression of horror.  
“Shit,” He cursed. “I’m sorry mate… What the hell happened to you?”  
“You are never going to ask me about this,” Remus shouted, violently pulling his nightshirt on. “We’ll never talk about it.” Sirius seemed about to say something, but James gave him a warning look, and Sirius looked at the floor. Giving him a last, mutinous look, Remus jumped into his bed and yanked the hangings closed. Tears of frustration leaked out his eyes before he could control them. It was happening again. He had only had friend for one year, for the first time in his life, and now it was over. Sooner or later they would figure out what he was, and if he was lucky, they would never speak to him again. If he was not, the whole school would know, and he would be forced to leave. Hating himself for his tears, Remus shoved his face into his pillow to muffle his sobs.

Over the next few days James and Sirius heeded Remus’ command and did not mention what had happened. If anything, they were overly polite, and made extra efforts to include him in their conversations. As the full moon approached and Remus felt himself weaken James and Sirius helped him with his homework, offered to carry his books to class, and stayed quiet in the room so he could get to sleep early. Feeling confused by these actions, Remus expected to have the rug pulled out from under him. He did, however, appreciate the help, and he was far less exhausted than usual when the night of his transformation came. When he excused himself from the dinner table he caught James and Sirius sharing knowing looks.  
“Where are you going?” James asked, smirking.  
“Hospital wing,” Remus stammered.  
“Hm,” Sirius said. “Well, we’ll see you tomorrow. Come on James, we’ve got to go to the library.”  
“What are you going to do there?” Peter asked.  
“We’ll tell you after,” James said, and Remus did not have a good feeling about the grin he shared with Sirius.  
A feeling of dread hanging over him, Remus left the Great Hall and met Hagrid to take him down to the whomping willow.

With a fractured arm, deep bite on his wrist, a scratch on his neck and sprained ankle, Remus had to admit to Hagrid that he needed to be carried up to the hospital wing. Hagrid had suggested a stretcher, but Remus was not yet willing to sink to that level. When Hagrid left in in Madame Pomfrey’s care she dressed his wounds as he shoveled down large quantities of food, then collapsed back onto his bed. It had been one of his more tiring transformations.  
“Remus?” Remus sat up to see Sirius sitting across from him with a plate of dinner. “Madame Pomfrey said I should wake you to eat.”  
“Thanks,” Remus said, accepting the plate.  
“What happened to your arm?” Peter asked.  
“Fell on it,” Remus answered. As far as he knew that part could be true.  
“And your neck?” Sirius asked, pushing aside Remus’ long hair.  
“It’s nothing,” Remus said, pushing Sirius’ hand away.  
“Whatever you say,” James said, then added. “Moony.”  
“What did you call me?” Remus asked, sitting bolt upright.  
“How could we not notice you get sick every full moon,” James said.  
“And you’re covered in scars,” Sirius put in.  
“And you were going to be home-schooled,” Peter added.  
“And you aren’t in the hospital wing. We went down and checked last night under the cloak,” James explained. “Where do you go?”  
“I… I’m not telling you,” Remus answered. “But, whatever you think you know…”  
“You’re a werewolf, Remus,” Sirius said.  
“Fine,” Remus said, pushing himself away from his friends. “Yes, but don’t tell anyone, please. I’ll ask McGonagall if I can sleep somewhere else. I won’t talk to you again, I’ll leave you all alone, just please don’t tell anyone. You don’t know how much it means to me to go to Hogwarts.”  
“Slow down mate,” James said. “You’re still our friend. We like you, and we like sharing a room with you. I mean, not on a full moon, but the other days, you’re cool.”  
“Yeah,” Peter said. “We all agreed we don’t care.”  
“It’s actually kind of cool,” Sirius added. “I mean how many people can say they live with a werewolf.”  
“So you don’t hate me?” Remus asked, not daring to believe them.  
“Why would we hate you?” James asked. “I’m assuming you didn’t ask to get bitten. It could happen to anyone, so we figured, what’s the big deal? We’ve just got to find out how we can help you.”  
“Nothing can help me,” Remus said bitterly. “There’s no cure. I’ve tried most of what there is to buy.”  
“Look at this,” James said, pushing a book towards Remus. He had underlined a section reading While the werewolf will viciously attack any human or werewolf, they never attack animals, and are calmed by the presence of other animals, particularly dogs and wolves.  
“Alright,” Remus said, looking up at Sirius and James’ beaming faces. “So, are you going to get me a puppy?”  
“No,” James sighed. “Animals run from werewolves. But we have a better idea.”  
“Fine,” Remus said, relaxing back onto his pillows. “Let’s hear it then.”  
“We’ll have to become animagi,” Sirius said, grinning.  
Remus waited for a few moments for them to laugh, or say “just joking” but when they continued to look expectantly at him he replied. “That’s mad.”  
“Well it won’t be easy…” James said.  
“It takes years of training,” Remus said. “And you have to register, and I might attack you anyway, and you wouldn’t be allowed in the… where I transform, and—“  
“Details,” Sirius said, waving his hand aside. “The point is if we could keep you more, well, in your head, then things might be better, and you wouldn’t get hurt so much.”  
“Yeah,” James said. “How do you keep getting hurt so much?”  
“Well, werewolves instinctually attack,” Remus said, “And as it says werewolves can turn on one another, or, if there isn’t anybody around, themselves.” He paused to look up at his friends’ shocked faces, then added. “But it’s never anything too bad. It’s just, well, there’s not much Madame Pomfrey or anyone can do about it.”  
“So you’ve been biting and scratching yourself? All those scratches are from last night?” Peter asked.  
“Well, this was just a bad month,” Remus said hastily. “Normally it’s nothing extreme, but I’ll be in here for a day or two. The fracture is fine, to be honest, but the bite will keep me from writing for a while, and that will be hard to explain.”  
“Don’t worry about that,” James said. “Sirius and I are much better liars than you are. We’ll think of something.  
“Can I see your hand?” Peter asked, leaning over as if he could see through the bandages if he just got closer.  
“Jesus Peter, don’t you think that’s a little personal,” James said, but Sirius was also watching intently.  
“Are you sure?” Remus asked. “It’s not pretty.”  
“Yeah,” Sirius said. “What does a wolf bite look like?”  
Knowing Madame Pomfrey would no doubt scold him for messing with the bandages, Remus unwound his wrist.  
“Nasty,” James said, at the same time that Sirius said “wicked” and Peter squealed. “Are they always green like that?” Sirius asked.  
“You really did that to yourself?” James asked, looking somewhat sick.  
“Uh huh,” Remus answered.  
“You really took a chunk out of yourself,” Sirius commented.  
“That was tactful,” James said. “It’s gotta hurt.”  
“I’ve had worse,” Remus said, relishing his opportunity to impress his friends. “Just uh, don’t tell anybody you know,” He added in an undertone. “McGonagall would kill me if she thought I’d told you.”  
“Well you didn’t,” James pointed out. “It’s completely our fault, isn’t it?”  
“Isn’t it always,” Remus laughed.

While Remus would have thought the knowledge of his conditions would have made his friendships more awkward, it in fact relieved the tension of all the secrecy, and he felt closer to James, Sirius, and Peter than ever. His next few transformation did go more smoothly without worrying his friends would find out, as well as the moral support they gave him. Sirius in particular would ask him how he was feeling and help him in any little way he could. For all his bravado, Sirius cared about his friends more deeply than he would admit. That tended to get him in trouble, as his policy was to hex first and think later when anybody said a word against James, Remus, or Peter.  
What worried Remus was that his friends seemed serious about their plan to become animagi. In one transfiguration class James interrupted McGonagall’s lecture on animal transfiguration to ask, “Professor, is it true that you are an animagus?”  
“Yes, Potter, that is correct,” She answered, “But we are discussion transfiguration of an object, not a human being.”  
“What is the difference?” Sirius asked. “I mean it would seem that changing something that isn’t alive into something that is would be harder than changing something that’s already alive into an animal.”  
“Well, Black, transfiguring a human being is an incredibly difficult task, and the consequenses can be severe. That is why the Ministry has placed many restrictions upon those who wish to become and animagus.”  
“But Professor,” James said, “How do you become an animagus. Is there a class or something?”  
“No,” McGonagall said, smiling. “When one has become a master in the field on transfiguration, he or she will contact a registered animagus and request private instructions, with the knowledge and consent of the Ministry.”  
“But what if there isn’t a registered animagus, or they don’t want to teach anyone?” Sirius asked. “Are there books about it?”  
“Yes, but these books are restricted. The knowledge in the wrong hands could be disasterous. I warn you, do not attempt human transfiguration without an expert present. And if that is all, I would like to return to my lesson.  
Once McGonagall was done demonstrating turning a goblet into a rat Sirius leaned in to whisper to James. “Do you reckon you could get your hands on one of those books?”  
“Maybe,” James responded. “My parents have loads of books. You?”  
“I don’t know,” Sirius said. “We have lots of books on really old magic. Kind of creepy stuff to be honest. It might be in there somewhere. I mean, I don’t believe nobody has ever become an animagus without the Ministry knowing.”  
“I don’t think it’s a very good idea,” Remus put in. “If something goes wrong…”  
“Look, James is great at transfiguration,” Sirius said. “And so are you—well you’re good at everything, but that’s not the point. Anyways, once James and I can do it we’ll teach Peter, and it will be fine.”  
“What do you want to turn into?” James asked.  
“Dog,’ Sirius answered. “Obviously. You?”  
“I fancy a stag,” James said, puffing out his chest a little. “They’re…”  
“Majestic,” Peter said.  
Remus, James and Sirius burst out laughing. “Peter I think you fancy James,” Sirius teased.  
“I do not,” Peter protested.  
“Well what do you want to be?” Remus asked, trying to help his friend out of the hole he had dug for himself.  
“He’ll need to be something small to get past the willow,” James said.  
“How do you know about the willow?” Remus demanded.  
“Cloak,” James answered, shrugging. “If Peter could turn into a ferret that’d be great.”  
“Why do I have to be the small one?” Peter protested.  
“Because you’re the smallest one of us,” Sirius answered. “At least as far as height goes.” Sirius and James laughed again, but Remus did not join them. He knew James and Sirius didn’t mean what they said, but they did not know what it was like to be made fun of day in and day out. They had grown up popular and loved by everyone.  
“Well you like rats, don’t you?” Remus asked. “They’re very intelligent, and some of them just look like mice with worms for tails.”  
“Yeah, I like that,” James said, “Moony and Wormtail. Sirius could be Padfoot.”  
“And you’re Prongs,” Sirius added. “Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, marauders extraordinaire.”  
“Potter, Black, Lupin and Pettigrew,” McGonagall barked from across the room. “Unless you want another detention I suggest you practice your transfiguration work.”  
“Yes, Professor, sorry Professor,” Remus said, turning to his goblet. “Not that I’m condoning this animagus idea,” He added in an undertone. “When the three of you are stuck with tails and walking on four legs, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”  
“Yes mother,” James grumbled.

“You won’t believe what I found,” Sirius said, bursting into the compartment James, Peter, and Remus had chosen.  
“What?” Remus asked, hoping it wasn’t what he thought it was.  
“Books,” Sirius said, opening his trunk and throwing robes, a cauldron, and spare socks onto the seat behind him. “See?” He said, pulling them out at last. “It explains how to become an animagus. And,” he said, turning to Peter. “The smaller the animal, the easier, so it’s a good thing you’ll be the rat because you’re rubbish at transfiguration.  
“It’s my best subject,” Peter protested.  
“That’s not saying much,” James laughed.  
“Where did you find them?” Remus said, picking up one of the ancient books Sirius had produced.  
“My great uncle Albert was trying to become and animagus,” Sirius said.  
“Trying to?” James asked. “Did he give up?”  
“Well, no,” Sirius said. “He ended up sort of half cow and died of complications.”  
“I told you it was a bad idea,” Remus insisted.  
“Who would bother going to all the work and turn into a bloody cow?” James demanded.  
“I don’t know,” Sirius sighed. “But it’s supposed to take years. We’ll have to stop getting so many detentions so we can practice.”  
“Unlikely,” Remus commented. “The day the two of you stop getting detentions will be the day I stop being a werewolf.”  
“Well if that’s all it takes,” James joked.  
“Is there really no cure?” Peter asked.  
“If there was, we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Remus said. “Plenty of people sell various potions and tell you it will change you back, but they’re all useless at best.”  
“Then what are they at worst?” James asked.  
“Poison,” Remus said shortly.  
“What?’ Sirius asked. “Why would somebody do that?”  
“Lots of people don’t like werewolves,” Remus sighed. “And some take it upon themselves to fix the problem. Luckily my Dad’s good with potions and he could mix me an antidote, but it was complicated because I had already transformed by then. Anyways, after that we stopped trying remedies.”  
“That’s fucked up,” Sirius said. “Why would anybody do that? It’s not like it’s you’re fault.”  
“Yeah, it’s just a little problem you have,” James said.  
“Little problem?” Remus asked, laughing. “Most werewolves don’t have people to cast protective charms for them, and almost all werewolves have had their wands confiscated, and then they have no control over what they do. No matter how deep into the woods you go, accidents can always happen. And some werewolves, once they get used to killing, they start to like it.” Remus tried to keep the bitterness out of his voice, but it felt good to finally tell somebody all the secrets he had kept for so long.  
“Why do werewolves get their wands confiscated?” James asked.  
“Well most never have them to begin with,” Remus explained. “At least the ones who get bitten as a kid. A lot of families abandon their children once they are bitten or give them to a pack. Plus there’s registration, and if you miss you’re registration date you get you’re wand snapped.”  
“Registration?” Peter asked.  
“You have to go into the Ministry on a full moon and they watch you transform,” Remus told his friends. “They take notes on what your wolf form looks like, ask you about your activities in the last year, stuff like that. They also sometimes test new potions on you.”  
“They do experiments on you?” Sirius asked, half rising from his seat. “That’s barbaric.”  
“It’s fine,” Remus said, amused by his friend’s readiness to defend him. “Really, I don’t mind if it means transformations will be easier, or if it will lead to a cure. Only a few werewolves actually show up for registration, so they mostly test it on werewolves in Azkaban. As far as I can tell they’ve never tried introducing an animagus. I don’t imagine they’ve ever found a willing animagus.”  
“Well maybe we’ll become famous for our discovery,” James laughed. “There’d just be the small matter of explaining that we became animagi illegally.”  
“And actually becoming one first,” Sirius added.  
“Better study then,” James said, tossing a book at Sirius. “Since I agree with Remus that we can expect to spend just as much time in detention as we have in the recent past.”

As it turned out, James and Sirius continued to cause trouble and lose house point, though, as they gained quite a few as well from class performance, this did not impact their popularity. In fact, their ability to produce butterbeer, bring entertainment to the more boring classes, and throw the best quidditch after-parties made them popular not only in their year, but within the whole of Gryffindor house. Remus and Peter, however, did not share this attention. Peter, fat and slow, was teased whenever his friends weren’t around, and Remus was still feared by anyone who had ever lived in the same town as he had, which was quite a few. Despite this, Remus could not be happier for those times he was included in James and Sirius’ mischief, or the time they spent together in their bedroom planning their next prank, playing exploding snap, or studying to become animagi.  
Much to his disappointment, Remus learned that werewolves cannot become animagi, though it would have been nice to be able to transform—and untransform—at will. However, he enjoyed watching his friends, and helping when possible.  
“Look,” James said, when, screwing up his eyes, he managed to fuse his fingers together into a sort of half hoof. “Aw shit,” he cursed a moment later. “I can’t get it back.”  
“Chew on your mandrake leaf,” Remus instructed. “It’s supposed to help you out.”  
“Right,” James said, then, as his jaw clenched, his hand returned to normal. “These things are a real pain. You have no idea how hard it is to eat without swallowing them. And it’s only been three days. I don’t know how we will last a whole month.”  
“Well you could always call it quits,” Remus pointed out, knowing this would be useless.  
“We’re not giving up,” James insisted. “If keeping a bloody leaf in your mouth is as bad as it gets, well we can deal with that.  
“You know you can’t choose what you turn into,” Remus said, thumbing through his book. “Though wizards often end up naturally preferring the animals that best represent them, you could really be getting a cow hoof there.”  
“I am no cow,” James said, taken aback. “If I can’t be a stag, I’m done with this.”  
“It’s the same with a patronus,” Remus said, ignoring James’ outburst. “You don’t get to decide—you just end up with whatever animal represents your soul.”  
“We should learn to do that,” Sirius said. “Dementors sound terrible.”  
“They are,” Remus said. “And they say Voldemort is using them. Help him with his muggle torture.”  
“Have you ever come across a dementor?” James asked.  
“They guard the Ministry rooms where they have werewolves transform, just in case something goes wrong. It’s stupid though, because Dementors are much less effective on animals, and the wolf form isn’t exactly happy, so it doesn’t do much other than make the people on the other side of the window feel better. But as soon as you walk into a room with them, it’s like all the happiness has gone out of the world.”  
“I don’t suppose you can do a patronus then,” James asked.  
“No,” Remus said. “Only some vague silvery shape, and that’s without the Dementors nearby. I wouldn’t last a second if it came down to it.”  
“Expecto Patronum,” James said, flicking his wand. A small silver vapor flickered at his wand tip, but faded quickly.  
“You need a happier memory,” Remus commented. “Or more concentration. And lots of practice.”  
“Practice is boring,” Sirius groaned, sitting back onto his bed.  
“Practice makes perfect,” Peter piped up, leading to a glare from Sirius.  
“Expecto Patronum,” James repeated, grinning when his silver vapor formed a somewhat distinct blob. “I think I saw antlers.”

“What a year,” James sighed, settling into the train compartment. “Remus a werewolf, animagus practice, and an almost corporeal patronus for all of us.”  
“Remus’ was almost corporeal,” Peter put in.  
“Yes, well if we were to make a list of the things Remus can do better than we can,” Sirius laughed. “it’s a good thing he isn’t as conceited as you are, James, or I don’t think I could be friends with him. All his bragging would actually be true, unlike yours.”  
“I take offense to that,” James scoffed. “I’ll have you know that I contributed in no small part to the Gryffindor team winning the quidditch cup this year.”  
“We also saw year two of Lily rejecting James’ advance,” Remus commented, grinning. “And a rather spectacular fall from a broomstick while trying to show off.”  
“We don’t talk about that,” James said darkly.  
“You don’t,” Sirius said. “We’re never going to stop, and none of the girls will either. If I ever try to stand on a broom to impress a girl, I’ll at least try to not to do it in front of about twenty witnesses.”  
“There was also that time you tried to bewitch that bird into singing for her and it shit in her hair,” Remus added, thoroughly enjoying the license to mock James. The four friends spent the rest of the train ride back to Hogwarts reminiscing on all the ways they had made fools of themselves, making fun of Slytherins, and promising to really practice transformations.”  
“Maybe I’ll have a tail by the time we see each other again,” Peter said excitedly.  
“That’d be hard to hide,” Sirius said. “Especially now as we don’t have those mandrake leaves anymore. My mum will not be happy with the state of my teeth.”  
“Yeah, well antler nubs were really hard to hide,” James said, absently ruffling his jet black hair. “Good thing my hair’s so messy, or we might have been in a good deal of trouble.”  
“Well we have been,” Sirius pointed out. “McGonagall says she can’t remember giving out forty seven detentions to a single student in all her years of teaching, and we both made the cut. Wormtail settled on a lousy thirty one, and Moony trails behind at seventeen.”  
“Only because he got out of ten or so because they were scheduled during transformations,” James complained.  
“And I suppose you’d rather lose control of your body to a frenzied wolf every month?” Remus asked.  
“Nah,” James sighed. “But a stag, that’s gonna be cool. I reckon I won’t see any in Cypress.”  
“Poor James, stuck in the Mediterranean for two whole months,” Remus fake-pouted. “I don’t know how you deal with such hardship.”  
“Better than Germany with my Mum and her new boyfriend Bruno,” Peter moaned. “He keeps taking me hunting every summer, no matter how many times I tell him I hate it. And it just feels like cheating when you use magic.”  
“Not as messy as the muggle way,” Remus laughed. “My grandpa used to take me shooting, but luckily my mother told him it was too violent for me at such a tender age. Now we only go fishing.”  
“Do you think he’ll take me too this summer?” Sirius asked.  
“Sure,” Remus shrugged. “He’ll be glad to know I have a friend. But he’ll talk your ear off about his cars. He restores vintage cars and bikes.”  
“That sounds cool,” Sirius protested. “I’m just glad to get away from the folks for a few weeks.”  
“Yes, well, make sure not to call me Moony in front of my parents or they’ll lose their shit,” Remus said. “Other than that they can’t wait to see you in August. I wish you could come too, Wormy,” Remus added kindly.  
“Oh well,” Peter sighed. “Maybe my Mum will dump Bruno and I can join.”  
“We can only hope,” Sirius said, grinning at Remus over Peter’s shoulder. “Anyways, we’re pulling into London. Final game of gobstones?”  
When the Hogwarts Express finally did pull into King’s Cross station, the Marauders said their goodbyes and, waving goodbye, parted ways, Peter to his wispy mother, her stocky boyfriend Bruno, and his two older sons; James to his two older, but loving parents; Sirius to his cold and imperious looking parents and younger brother; Remus to his apothecary father and muggle mother.  
Embracing her son, Hope Lupin said, “Had a good year at school sweetie?”  
“The best,” Remus answered beaming. For the first time he had friends, friends who knew what he was and liked him anyways. Standing between his parents, waing good-bye to James, Sirius, and Peter, Remus thought he could conjure a damn good patronus just then


	3. Padfoot's New Pelt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More marauders mischief as Remus and Sirius grow closer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings  
> -More bullying in this chapter than in the last two  
> -More Black family horribleness, so TW for verbal abuse, just to be safe  
> -Discussions of traumatic memories, nightmares, etc.  
> -Underage drinking

Third Year

Wind whipping his hair into his face, Remus kicked off the ground and soared above the trees. Grinning, he looked over his shoulder to his friend, Sirius flying beside him. “This is brilliant,” Sirius called out over the wind.  
“I know,” Remus laughed. “Just don’t get too far ahead of me. I haven’t got a fancy nimbus like you have.”  
“Oh come on, you can go faster,” Sirius teased, picking up speed. “Try and catch me.”  
“Oh I will,” Remus called, accelerating. While Sirius had the better broom, Remus was the better flier when it came to long distances, so after fifteen minutes or so he was able to seize Sirius’ ankle and shout. “Ha! Gotcha.”  
“Alright,” Sirius sighed, slowing. “Where should we go now?”  
“There’s a nice lake,” Remus said. “About a an hour’s fly north of here. We can stop there for a little bit.”  
“Lead the way,” Sirius said.  
After about an hour and a half—Remus got somewhat lost—the two boys landed at the edge of a clear, blue lake.  
“There aren’t any muggle roads leading this way,” Remus said. “So it’s only wizards, or hikers coming this way. Want a sandwich.”  
“Sure,” Sirius said, stretching out under the sun as Remus pulled out sandwiches and two butterbeers. “Is fishing fun?”  
“Pretty boring to be honest,” Remus answered, handing his friend an open butterbeer. “Most of the time you just stand there and wait. But it is cool when you finally catch something. In general muggle entertainment tends to be a little less… stimulating than wizard games and sports.”  
“But you still read those muggle comic books,” Sirius pointed out. “And watch telly with your mum.”  
“I’m not saying muggle stuff is boring,” Remus corrected. “It’s just different. Are you going to take muggle studies this year?”  
“Yep,’ Sirius said, grinning. “Mostly just to piss my parents off. And care of magical creatures. You?”  
“Care of magical creatures,” Remus said. “And arithmancy. James and Peter are taking divination, as well as care of magical creatures.”  
“At least we’ll be in that together,” Sirius said. “Do you think we’ll get to see dragons ever?”  
“Hell no,” Remus laughed. “They’ll never let a dragon on Hogwarts grounds. There are a few left in Wales though, and they have dragon-sighting tours. They’re very expensive of course, but you get your money back if you don’t see one.”  
“Have you ever been on one?” Sirius asked.  
“No,” Remus laughed. “As I said, they’re very expensive, but if I came into some gold, that’s be one of the first things I would buy.”  
“What else would you get?” Sirius asked.  
“Well,” Remus said, thoughtfully. “Save most of it, probably. I’d want a new broom, though, and then get something nice for my parents. I don’t know, what about you?”  
“I’d get my own place for starters,” Sirius said, chewing his sandwich thoughtfully. “And then I’d buy a motorcycle, and then I’d buy you about a thousand chocolate frogs and keep all the cards.”  
“That’s nice of you,” Remus laughed. “We’re a perfect match that way I suppose.”  
“Fancy a swim?” Sirius asked, standing up and removing his shirt.  
“Um,” Remus said, looking at the clear, blue water. “Sure,” He finally decided. “Sounds nice in this heat.” Following his friend’s lead Remus stripped down to his bozers and watched as Sirius ran into the water.  
“Damn it’s cold,” Sirius shouted, wrapping his arms around himself.  
“It’s high altitude,” Remus laughed, joining his friend. “And it’s not that cold. You’re just a whimp.”  
“I am not,” Sirius said, indignantly. “You should watch what you say.”  
“Or what?” Remus asked. “What are you going to do?”  
“This,” Sirius said, splashing his friend.  
“Is that all you got?” Remus mocked, splashing Sirius back.  
“No,” Sirius said, and swimming at Remus, knocked him off his feet and into the lake. Underwater, Remus grabbed his friend’s ankles and pulled him down as well. By the time he had re-surfaced Sirius was tackling him again, and Remus swam further into the lake.  
“Now you’ve got to catch me,” He called. “Fancy brooms won’t help you now.”

Three hours later, Remus and Sirius touched down in the Lupin family’s backyard, and leaving their brooms in the shed, came into the living room and collapsed on the sofa.  
“I’m exhausted,” Sirius groaned. “Too much time on a broom. I don’t even want to talk about how much my balls hurt. I don’t understand how James does it. I feel like it would make a person sterile of something.”  
“It’s called an athletic cup,” Remus said, rolling his eyes. “Which, as a matter of interest, was invented before the helmet. You’d think players would want to watch out for the head as well.”  
“Well keepers do,” Sirius pointed out. “But Madame Pomfrey can sort out concussion in a few seconds. I don’t know what she can do about, well, other things.”  
“She’s a very good nurse,” Remus said. “And she’s had to help me out with a few things in awkward places. If I can’t get back out of the willow by myself she has to come and help me, and sometimes I have a hard time getting my clothes back on.”  
“Why would your clothes be off?” Sirius asked.  
“Clothes don’t transform with you like they do with animagi,” Remus explained. “It’s a good way to ruin a perfectly fine set of robes, but you want to put your clothes and wand somewhere safe from the wolf, so they can be hard to get to.”  
“And you just wait for someone to come and get you?” Sirius asked.  
“Uh huh,” Remus answered. “But that’s only happened four times or so. And there was one time I fell asleep by accident, and she came to get me, but I wasn’t hurt at all.”  
“Bet she wasn’t pleased,” Sirius chuckled.  
“Nah, it was fine,” Remus said. “She didn’t care, but I felt bad about it.”  
“Boys,” Lyall called from the front yard. “Come help me with these bubotubers. I need to harvest the pus before sundown.  
Groaning, Remus stood up and said. “Looks like we’d better go, or we’ll spend all day tomorrow hunting for lacewing flies. 

Over the next month Sirius discovered what normal boys did over summer, and Remus discovered what it was like to spend time with a friend outside of school. They hunted lacewing flies and armadillos with Lyall Lupin, helped Hope in the garden, went fishing and driving with Remus’ grandfather John Howel, and walked to town for ice cream. As September first approached, Remus found himself wishing the summer could last forever, though he certainly was looking forward to getting back to Hogwarts, seeing James and Peter again, and causing mayhem. On their last morning of vacation, Sirius and Remus sat on a park bench in the village, eating ice-cream, and enjoying the warm weather. That afternoon they would go to London, buy their school supplies, spend the night at Grimmauld place, then board the Hogwarts express the next morning.  
“Just so you know,” Sirius said, turning to his friend. “My mum will probably hate you.”  
“It’s only one night,” Remus reasoned. “And you haven’t told her I’m a half blood, have you?”  
“No,” Sirius said. “But she’ll check your last name and find out, and you aren’t a Slytherin, so you’re pretty much dead to her.”  
“And I’m poor,” Remus added. “What do you think she’d do if she knew I was a werewolf too?”  
“Probably have a heart attack,” Sirius laughed. “But seriously, she won’t be nearly as nice to you are your parents have been to me. I feel bad having you over. The house is all cold and gloomy and, I don’t know, it just has a lonely feeling, even when there are a lot of people there. I hate it, really.”  
“Well you can always visit me,” Remus said. “If not for a month, just for a day or a couple days. My parents would be thrilled, and we are connected to the floo network. But it will only be a night, and then we’ll be at Hogwarts. Third year is going to be great. We had better get back home, though. Mum will have lunch ready for us.”  
“I’m not really hungry,” Sirius said, looking down at his ice cream cone with a guilty expression.  
“I’m sure you’ll manage once you’ve had an hour long walk,” Remus said, getting to his feet.  
The two boys had not gone far down wall street when they heard a voice shout, “Hey Lupin.”  
“Carrows,” Remus groaned, turning around to face a rather ugly teenaged boy and his younger sister. Amycus, a year ahead of Remus and Sirius, was a cruel, but popular boy, and his younger sister was his main disciple. Only eleven, she had helped him torture animals, and would no doubt help him bully some of the younger students when she started at Hogwarts that fall. “What?” He asked.  
“Thought you knew better than to show your face around here,” Amycus said. “Don’t you know you aren’t welcome here?”  
“And why’s that?” Sirius demanded, stepping protectively between his friend and his aggressor.”  
“Back off Sirius,” Remus muttered. “You’ll be in real trouble if you use magic.”  
“We don’t want this freak in our town. If you didn’t know, we’re purebloods, not mudblood filth. You belong in that dirty hovel you call home, not on our streets.”  
“You’re the only filthy one here,” Sirius challenged. “Did anything happen to your face, or were you just born that ugly? I’d hate to see your mum, if you and your sister are anything to go by.”  
“You watch what you say,” Amycus said, striding up to within inches on Sirius. He was not taller than Sirius, but much bulkier, and more imposing. “Not I know what Bella meant when she said you weren’t a real lack. Hanging around with mudblood freaks and blood traitors like Potter. You don’t deserve the name.”  
“I don’t want the fucking name,” Sirius shouted, lunging towards the older boy. Remus suspected the argument would have come to blows, had he not seized Sirius’ elbows and dragged him up the street out of town.  
“Honestly Sirius,” he groaned. “They’re not worth it. You’re better than them. It’ll only get you in trouble, and Merlin knows you get yourself into enough of that on your own.”  
“Well I had to, you know, defend your honor,” Sirius said, blushing a little.  
“Oh come on Sirius,” Remus laughed. “Do you think I honestly care what the Carrows think of me, or say about me? Look, people are going to hate me my whole life, so I just have to get used to it and decide what really matters, and who matters. And Amycus Carrow isn’t worth the time of day.”  
“Alright,” Sirius said. “But I’m your friend. I’m supposed to protect you, right? That’s what friends are for. We’ve got each other’s backs.”  
“That’s sweet, but I don’t need protecting,” Remus said, smiling. “At least not from him. But I’ll let you know when I need it. But you don’t go losing your head at every asshole who insults me. Deal?”  
“Sure,” Sirius laughed. “Deal.”

“Well this is it,” Sirius said, gesturing at the tall, dark brick townhouse, number 12 Grimmauld place. “It used to be only for wizards,” Sirius whispered, so as not to let his mother hear. “Everyone else sold to muggles, but my great grandfather refused. My mum hates it, but the house has been in the family for over a century, and before that the Blacks lived in a different house on the property for a long-ass time, so we can’t move. Some shit about the most noble and ancient house of Black.”  
“Sirius,” Walburga shouted from inside. “Get in the house now! And go wash up before you come into the dining room. You’ve spent too much time around muggle filth.”  
Sirius grimaced at Remus, who pretended not to notice. If she was going to pretend he didn’t exist, he could play that game too. “Come on,” Sirius muttered. We’d better do as she says. Kreacher!”  
An old house elf appeared at the door, muttering under his breath. “Dirty half blood, what must mistress think. Not suitable company for a Black heir. He will surely corrupt young master, already has done so.”  
“Kreacher,” Sirius interrupted. “Take Remus and my things up to my room, and set up a camp bed or something for Remus.” At a sharp look from Remus, Sirius added. “Please.” Despite mutterings of protest, Kreacher snapped his fingers and the two trunks levitated behind him. Sirius lead his friend down a narrow hallway, and up several flights of stairs to a room labeled Sirius. “Well, here we are,” he said, gesturing to a large, dimly lit room with several model airplanes, posters, and a few birld-like skeletons hung on like a sinister mobile. “My uncle Alphard has odd ideas about children’s toys,” Sirius said, noticing his friends’ interest. “Used to scare the shit out of me, but now I sort of like it. He’s the only one of my relatives I like. Well, Andromeda’s cool, but she married a muggle, so I haven’t been allowed to see her in years. I think she just had a baby, though.”  
Crossing the room, Sirius pulled aside a heavy velvet curtain and waved his wand a chandelier to let some light into the room, allowing Remus to inspect his friend’s wall decorations. Most of the poster in the scarlet and red of Gryffindor house, but there were also a few photos of the marauders, arm in arm, smiling at the camera. “And you always complain about Peter taking so many photos,” Remus laughed.  
“Well, I still think he takes too many, but it’s nice to have a few. Look, this will drive the parents mad.” Sirius pulled some photos cut out of a motorcycle magazine from his trunk and pinned them to his wall. “Your grandfather’s cool.”  
“He’ll be pleased to hear that,” Remus said. Hearing a scuffling noise, and smelling something like cat piss and mildew, he turned around, then said. “Do you think Kreacher’s here?”  
“Kreacher,” Sirius shouted. “Where are you?”  
“Here Master,” Kreacher croaked, stepping out from Sirius’ bathroom. “At your service.”  
“Well clear out,” Sirius said, raising his voice.  
“Mistress says creature is to watch the half-blood,” Kreacher said, grinning at Remus. “She is worried he will steal one of the family heirlooms. Kreacher does not like the smell of him. Something not quite normal.”  
“Mother,” Sirius roared, storming into the hall. “Will you tell that bloody elf to leave me and Remus alone?”  
Remus sat down on Sirius’ bed and tried to ignore the argument that followed, though some phrases such as “stains of dishonor” and “improper association with non-pure blood wizards” jumped out. Finally, Sirius returned, red in the face and fuming.  
“This is ridiculous,” He said, aiming a kick at creature.  
“Sirius, please,” Remus said. “It’s not his fault what your mum orders him to do.”  
“I’m sorry,” Sirius groaned. “My family’s horrible.”  
“It’s alright,” Remus said, though he wanted nothing more than to get out of number twelve Grimmauld place. “I’m just sorry you had to stay here this summer. Next time I’ll try and get my parents to invite you for longer.”  
“Remus, you know you’re a ridiculously good person,” Sirius laughed. “Most people get upset when they’re referred to as ‘the half-blood.’”  
“Like I said, I’m used to people hating me for what I am, and seeing as there’s nothing I can do about it, might as well get over it.”  
“Yeah, well let’s try and avoid a family dinner at any rate,” Sirius said. “I’ll get Kreacher to send some food up. He’s not actually a bad cook. Kreacher!”  
“Yes master,” Kreacher said, appearing with a crack.  
“Remus is really excited to meet the family and I have really been looking forward to celebrating Regulus’ last night at home,” Sirius lied. “And Remus likes his meat very well-cooked.”  
“Yes master,” Kreacher said, sending Remus a dirty look, and disappearing. “I will be back shortly.”  
“Of course you will be,” Sirius grumbled, then once the elf left, added, “At least you should be getting your food rare. It’s sort of disgusting to watch you eat steak.”  
“One of the more pleasant side affects of lycanthropy,” Remus joked.  
“Sh,” Sirius said, looking around hastily, “What if Kreacher was here.”  
“I think I could smell him a mile away,” Remus said. “IS that a house-elf thing, no showers and no clothes.”  
“He could shower if he wanted to,” Sirius said. “He’s just a little, well gross. Just don’t think too much about it while you’re eating.” Remus’ stomach gave a small turn, but he quickly put the thought away. “Anyways, hopefully he’ll come and set up a bed for you.”  
“I think he wants me to sleep on the floor,” Remus said, gesturing to a threadbare blanket and lumpy pillow. “Not very subtle.”  
“Well I guess we’ll be sharing,” Sirius said, sniffing the pillow. “I think the only thing Kreacher enjoys more than taking orders is finding people pure-bloods look down on more than elves.  
With another crack Kreature re-appeared, brining the news that Sirius and Remus would not be welcome at dinner, and would be eating in the kitchen. Grinning, Sirius led his friend down to the dark kitchen, tiptoeing around the dining room so as not to attract attention from his parents. “They’re probably telling Regulus he had better become a Slytherin for the millionth time,” Sirius muttered. “They’re already talking about taking me off the tapestry. Not that I care.” Remus didn’t know what he was talking about, but decided not to press the matter. Experience had taught him that the subject of Sirius’ family was best avoided.  
“So,” he said. “What should we do this year? I’m thinking we might try to making our own fireworks. Or bewitch some of the suits of armor…”  
After a dinner of scheming and laughing Sirius’ black (pun intended) mood lifted considerably, and Remus called it an early night to prevent any more family incident from further upsetting his friend. Kreacher evidently decided he could leave them alone to go to sleep, and his absence made Sirius even happier.  
“I’m exhausted,” Sirius groaned, leaning back onto his bed. “I can’t wait to get on the express tomorrow morning.”  
“Mm,” Remus sighed, settling into his pillow. Sirius’ bed was soft and warm, and he was very sleepy.  
“Remus,” Sirius said after a short pause.  
“Yes?” Remus said, barely awake.  
“You’re a good friend, you know,” Sirius said, reaching out to ruffle his friend’s hair affectionately. “I’m really glad I got to be friends with you and James. I’m glad I didn’t turn out, well, like my family.”  
“You’re not like your family at all,” Remus said, sitting up a little to look his friend in the eyes. “You’re a good person Sirius, and where you came from only makes it more impressive.”  
“Thanks,” Sirius said. “I don’t know how you do it.”  
“Do what?” Remus asked.  
“Deal with what you are. I don’t think I could live with everyone hating me. You aren’t angry or resentful or bitter, you’re just kind and… good.”  
Remus blushed. Sirius was not usually this serious, which probably had something to do with being away from James for two months. “It’s okay because I always have my parents,” Remus said. “And you and James. It doesn’t matter what everyone else thinks if you have a few people who love you. It’s not easy, but it’s bearable, if you have that. You and James, everyone likes you, but it’s not like that for me, or for Peter, and we just have to get used to it.”  
“Yeah,” Sirius said, rolling onto his back. “I guess if I could choose I’d rather have parents that love me and everyone else hates me than everyone love me, but parents who hate me.” His voice choked on the last few words, but he didn’t let the tears filling in his eyes roll down his face.  
Wordlessly, Remus reached out and gripped his friend’s hand under than blanket. Sirius curled his fingers around his and in a few minutes fell asleep.

Walburga and Orion rented limousines to escort the Black family and Remus to King’s Cross station early the next morning. While Walburga and Orion fussed over their younger son, Remus and Sirius slipped onto platform nine and three quarters and got an empty compartment on the Hogwarts express. “Look at James,” Sirius snickered, gesturing out the window. James, who had tanned over the summer, and had certainly grown and inch or two, was trying to extricate himself from his mother’s embrace, protesting loudly as she kissed his cheeks and reminded him to write every week.  
“Mum, you’re embarrassing me,” He said. “And yes, I’ll write, okay. Now let go of me, I’ll miss the train.” After a final kiss and a pat on the shoulder from his dad, James pulled away and boarded the express.  
“Said good-bye to mummy?” Sirius teased when his friend entered the compartment.  
“Shut up,” he said, flushing and messing up the back of his hair. “I just hope Evans didn’t see that.”  
“Couldn’t make her like you less,” Sirius said. “Seen Wormy?”  
“Here,” Peter said, jogging into the compartment, breathing heavily.  
“You run or something?” James asked.  
“Mulciber,” Peter explained. “Took my owl. Had to chase him to catch it.”  
“Did he?” James said, standing up. “Well I’ll have to go teach him a lesson, won’t I. Slytherin tossers can’t go nicking things from my friends.” Remus groaned. This routine had become familiar: James and Sirius would go in and hot-headedly demand that the Slytherins stop doing whatever they had done, which was often enough just being in Slytherin house, Peter would go to watch, and Remus would give a disapproving look, then stay behind and read his book. When his friends returned, complaining at the injustices the Slytherins and inflicted upon them Remus would help patch up any bruises or cut, scold them, and then laugh at the expense of anyone unlucky enough to get hexed. Although he acted annoyed, he secretly felt proud of his friends for standing up for Peter, and, despite how stupid he knew their behavior was, he also admired it, and they knew it, and probably did it in part because of that.  
“What’s the damage this time?” Remus asked when James and Sirius returned, Peter trailing behind. He had already pulled bandages, ointments and pain relief potion from his trunk when Sirius sat down and showed him a cut on his thigh.  
“Severus is getting good at that sectumsempra spell,” James said. “I bet he practices on animals like some serial killer.”  
“You practiced engorgement charms on flies until they exploded,” Remus pointed out.  
“Yeah, but those were flies,” James justified. “I bet he uses cats or something.”  
“Well good thing Peter got his bird back then,” Remus said. “How about you James?”  
At that particular moment, James, seized his cauldron and vomited slugs into it.  
“Whoa,” Peter said. “I didn’t think that was a real spell.”  
“I don’t know what to do for you mate,” Remus said, grinning a little. “I’ve never seen that one before.”  
“Gross,” Sirius said with interest as James vomited a new batch of slugs. “I hope you don’t do that the whole trip.”  
“You’re complaining?” James managed to say between slugs. “I can hex you with it too, you know.”  
“What’s the spell?” Remus asked out of interest.  
“Eat slugs,” peter stated simply.  
“That’s inelegant,” Remus commented.  
“Inelegant?” Sirius asked, laughing. “Your best mate is vomiting slugs and you have a problem with the wording of the hex? You’ve got some odd priorities.”  
“I’m too tired to care,” Remus groaned, leaning back on his seat.  
“When’s the next full moon?” James asked.  
“Three days,” Sirius answered, then, turning to Remus, suggested. “get some sleep. We’ll wake you in time to change before we get there. If you can sleep over the sound of James retching up slugs, that is.”

Remus woke up a few hours later, head resting on Sirius’ shoulder. “Sorry,” he murmured to his friend.  
“It’s fine,” Sirius said. “You don’t snore, so we’re all good here.”  
“Did I miss anything,” Remus asked, stretching.  
“No,” James said. “But I guess I ran out of slugs at some point.”  
“Good for you,” Remus said. “What did you do with them?”  
“Sent them back to the Slytherins,” James said, grinning. 

“Remus, mate, do you think you could help me out here?” Sirius called from the bathroom.  
Remus set down his book to see what the trouble was. Exchanging a questioning look with James, he opened the bathroom door and burst out laughing. Sirius was standing in front of the bathroom mirror, covered head to toe in thick black fur.  
“It’s not funny,” Sirius said, “How am I supposed to go to class all furry? I’ll be dead when McGonagall finds out what I’ve—what we’ve been trying to do.”  
“Calm down mate,” Remus said. “Just let me get you a razor, and we’ll get you back to normal by class tomorrow. This is going to take a while.” By the time Remus had said this James and Peter were at the bathroom door, laughing at their friend.  
“And last week Carrow mocked you because you haven’t got any facial hair yet,” James pointed out.  
“Not that his little chin wisps can be called a beard,” Sirius snorted. Remus is the only one who could actually grow a real one if he wasn’t so neurotic about staying clean-shaven.”  
“Which is why I’m going to be able to bail you out of this,” Remus sighed. “But you’re going to owe me a new razor next Hogsmeade visit; this one will get full. And I’m only going to do your face and arms—the parts people will notice—you can deal with the rest.”  
“Come on, it’s still hot out,” Sirius complained.  
“Well that’ll be incentive for you to get it back. I never approved of this, but that doesn’t mean I want you to get caught.” Covering Sirius’ face and neck with shaving cream, Remus went to work on his friend’s unwanted hair. After a few minutes James and Peter grew tired of laughing at ‘Padfoot’s new pelt’ and retreated back to the dormitory. “And then there were two,” Remus commented.  
“Seriously, though,” Sirius said, smiling a little at the usual pun. “Thanks Moony. You always know how to fix any situation I go and screw up.”  
“It’s a good thing I like you so much then,” Remus said, then blushed. He hadn’t meant to sound so sappy. He caught Sirius’ eye in an awkward pause. Sirius raised one eyebrow, and Remus hastily added, “Careful I don’t shave that off. I’m trying to remember how they look.”  
Sirius laughed is Sirius laugh and dissolved most of the tension, but a part of Remus felt that he was seeing his friend in a new way. He did like Sirius, a lot, and lately had been wanting to feel close to him. Close like mates, but also physically close, and close enough to talk about the things he kept to himself. Like when he felt so sick of being a wolf he wanted to scream, or how he wished he could just be normal. Was this just getting close the way friends do, or was it something else? Something new he didn’t quite understand.  
“Oy,” Sirius yelped.  
“Oh, sorry,” Remus said, realizing his hand had slipped and cut his friend just beside the eyebrow. “Here, I have some healing salve.”  
“It’s alright,” Sirius said. “Maybe you should go to sleep. It hasn’t been that long since...”  
“The full moon was four days ago,” Sirius said firmly. “I’m not tired, I just got a little distracted, that’s all. Now do you want me to do the rest, or are you just going to plod on yourself?”  
“Help,” Sirius said, giving Remus, his most charming smile. 

Remus sat down in class next to a noticeably empty seat. “Where’s Peter?” He asked his friends, Sirius and James who had gotten to class.  
“Sick,” James answered. “He’s got the flu I guess. It’s really going around campus.”  
“Good,” Remus said, then at his friend’s questioning glances, he amended, “This full moon people will just think I have the flu. It makes life easier.”  
“Do you ever get normal sick?” Sirius asked.  
“Nope,” Remus answered. “Just my luck, right?”  
“Settle down class,” said Professor Halford—the lasted defense against the dark arts teacher—as she swept into the classroom looking exhausted and irritable as usual.  
“I don’t think she’ll last the year,” Sirius muttered.  
“She’s the most attractive one we’ve gotten though,” James complained. “I mean, look at those tits.”  
“Yeah, I guess,” Sirius said. “If that’s your thing. I mean she’s what, thirty. Not my type.”  
“But the tits,” James insisted.  
“They’re just tits,” Sirius whispered back. “What’s the big deal?”  
James laughed and started to say something in return, but was cut off by Professor Halford. “We’re are going to be continuing our practice of disarming charms. Partner up!”  
James and Sirius quickly stood up together, then shot Remus a guilty look.  
“It’s fine,” remus said. “I’ll find a partner. Anyone’s got to be better than Peter.”  
“True that,” James agreed.  
“Warrender,” Halford called to a Hufflepuff girl. “Partner with Lupin.” Warrender gave a look of horror, to which Halford replied. “Oh for Heaven’s sake, he doesn’t bite!”  
"I certainly hope he doesn't," James said loudly. Remus, James, and Sirius only needed to exchange one look before they dissolved into uncontrollable laugheter. Remus looked up in time to see Halford’s expression of shock as she realized what she had just said.  
“Why don’t you three take turns,” she said, seeing Warrender’s face turn from horror to absolute terror.  
“Just give me a moment,” Sirius gasped between fits of laughter. “That was perfect.”  
James and Sirius took full advantage of this opportunity to use all the wolf puns they could think of. When James sat down beside Remus at the great hall after quidditch practice he greeted his friend with “howls it going?” And later Sirius commented on how Remus had really “wolfed down his dinner.” Remus had never though lycanthropy could ever be something he would joke about, but he found he rather enjoyed it. The fact that his friends could laugh about it made him feel somehow accepted. 

“Get up Remus,” James shouted, shaking his friend awake. “We’d better get down to breakfast soon if you want to come to class. If you wait too long Peter will have eaten everything. Or we could just tell the teachers if you don’t feel up to it.”  
“No, I’m fine,” Remus said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “Just sore.”  
“That would be expected as you broke, what, seven ribs?” Sirius said. “He falls down two sets of stairs, but insists on going to class. It seems to be against the Marauders’ code to miss such a prime opportunity to skive off, don’t you think Prongs?”  
“Almost heretical,” James agreed, glaring at Remus with mock anger as he came out of the bathroom. “And he won’t even have time to shave. God forbid he let anyone see his stubble! It’s unseemly.”  
“Shut up,” Remus muttered, but he smiled as he tugged a brush through his hair. “But you should have woken me sooner.”  
“What, did you need to iron your pants?” Sirius mocked. “Or trim your hair? It is getting a bit long.”  
“You know that’s to cover up scars,” Remus said defensively.  
“Sorry,” Sirius said, backing off a bit. “I like your long hair, really. Just teasing.”  
“Sorry,” Remus sighed. “I’m just tired and grumpy.”  
“Well let’s get you some food,” James said, throwing his arm over Remus’ shoulder. “We all know wolves get cranky when they’re hungry.”  
“Careful or I’ll eat you,” Remus grumbled.  
When he finally got some breakfast, Remus found himself in a much better mood. When he opened the morning edition of the Daily Prophet his good mood vanished immediately as he yelped and dropped the paper as if it had burnt him.  
“Not a looker is he?” Caradoc Dearborn, a tall black fifth-year, said from across the table. He was referring to the scarred bestial looking man on the front cover, but Remus was staring at the snarling grey wolf next to the man, his eyes glowing in the moving portrait.  
“Who?” Sirius, asked, reaching for the paper.  
“Fenrir Greyback,” Caradoc answered. “He’s this mad werewolf who likes attacking kids. This boy just died last night in St. Mungo’s. he made it a few days I guess, but most of Greyback’s victims are found in pieces.”  
“I’m going to be sick,” Remus said, pushing himself away from the table. The room was spinning and all he could think was that he needed to get away. Hoping Caradoc wouldn’t read anything into it, Remus sprinted from the great hall and barely made it into the boys’ bathroom in time to vomit into the sink.  
He woke to the sound of his own screams. Pain, blinding, unimaginable pain took over his whole body. He didn’t know what hurt, all he knew was the searing pain in his back, his neck. Something was turning him over, snarling, biting, ripping…  
“Remus?”  
Remus looked up to see the reflections of his three friends in the mirror. Muttering a cleaning spell Remus cleared up his sick, splashed water on his face, rinsed out his mouth, then turned to face his friends. “What?” He said, challenging them to make fun of him, pity him, anything.  
“Was it Greyback?” Sirius finally asked.  
“Yeah,” Remus finally said, sinking down to sit on the floor and lean against the sink. “I haven’t seen a picture of him before. It just shocked me.”  
“How old were you?” Sirius said, sitting beside his friend.  
“I was not quite five,” Remus said, then, before he could stop himself he was telling the whole story. “He had it all planned out. He got in through an open window when he was still in his human form. He also put locking charms on the door so it took my dad a while to get to me. Anyways, I didn’t wake up until he was on me, and I didn’t know what was happening, it just hurt so badly. It felt like ages until my dad broke through and got him back out the window, but it could only have been five minutes. He…” Remus had begun to say he had almost gotten my arm off but another wave of nausea hit him, remembering Caradoc’s words ‘most of Greyback’s victims are found in pieces.’ I’m sorry,” Remus said, after a pause. “You didn’t want to hear that. I shouldn’t have said—“  
“Shut up,” James said, reaching out to grab his friend’s face and make him look him directly in the eye. “You can say whatever the hell you want. We’re your mates, and we’re here for you, even when things are shitty.”  
“Yeah,” Sirius echoed, his voice sounding far away. Peter nodded in agreement.  
“Thanks,” Remus said, and unwilling though he was, tears of relief came unbidden. “Sorry,” He said again, rubbing his eyes.  
“Will you stop fucking apologizing,” James said. “You got bitten by a werewolf—you get to cry about that every now and again.”  
“It’s not that,” Remus said, feeling stupid. “It’s just I still don’t believe that you guys don’t hate me for what I am. I’m just so used to people thinking I’m disgusting, or that I want to hurt people.”  
“You’re not disgusting,” Sirius said fiercely. “You’re Moony. You’re quiet and studious, but you like causing trouble too and you’re funny, and nice, and you help us get out of trouble and you put up with us, and none of what happened to you is your fault.”  
“Thanks Sirius,” Remus said closing his eyes and leaning his head against the sink. “I just keep seeing it in my head, over and over again. I keep feeling it again and again. I just want it to stop.”  
“Well if we aren’t masters of distraction, we aren’t marauders,” James said. “I can show you a magic trick. Now this is just an ordinary set of cards, nothing special. Pick one.”  
“Fuck off,” Remus said, but he was smiling.  
“Better watch your mouth Moony,” James said in a mock shocked voice. “You know you could get a detention, like Sirius did when he said just that to Madame Pince.”  
“Speaking of,” Remus said, glancing at his watch, “We’re already late for Transfiguration. I swear we’re scheduled for the strictest teacher first period on purpose.”  
“You aren’t seriously worried about being late to class,” James cried, incredulous.  
“Moony’s always serious,” Sirius quipped.  
“Oh shut up,” James said. “But really, transfigurations the last thing you need the worry about right now.”  
“Yeah well it’s a whole hell of a lot better than the main thing I’m worried about right now,” Remus shot back. “Look I just want to get my mind off things for a bit. Books and magic and classwork are all really good distractions for me.”  
“Right then,” Sirius said, giving James a knowing look. “We’d best be getting to class then. Come on, up you go.” Grabbing Remus by the hands Sirius pulled him into a standing position and clapped him on the back. “We may as well put our education to proper use.  
When the four boys strode into class ten minutes late McGonagall took no note of it, and if she thought Remus was distracted, she did not mention it. Remus buried his nose in books and filled his head with spells until History of Magic after lunch. Sitting in the dimly lit classroom with Binns droning on about something or other did not help remus keep his mind off of things. No matter how hard he tried to focus on witch burnings and the Spanish Inquisition, his mind kep wandering to Caradoc’s words ‘most of Greyback’s victims are found in pieces.” Trying to push the thought away, Remus must have emitted some groan of shudder because Sirius looked over at him sharply. Before he could apologize Sirius had done the last thing he expected and grasped his hand. Remus felt suddenly too warm and exhilarated and Sirius’ hands were strong and rough, and his nails were scratchy and chewed off and he smelled really good, and all of these things distracted Remus quite nicely.

November in the Scottish Highlands was cold, especially when it was past midnight. Though Remus was bundled into his warmest jacket and a cardigan with mittens, hat and scarf, he still shivered in the cold night air. Luckily he was sharing the cloak with three other boys, which offered some heat. Peter had complained about the cold and let the other three huddle around him, while Remus made up the tail to clear away tracks.  
“Don’t know why you’re complaining,” Sirius said. “You’ve got a nice layer of blubber to keep you warm. Remus is the skinny one.” Sirius laughed and reached over to clap Remus on the back. Remus wondered if Sirius thought anything of these carefree touches, but probably not. It was probably what friends did, Remus wouldn’t know. He was closest to Sirius of the three—this was probably just what it felt like to trust someone of care about them like a friend does. He just felt happy when he was around Sirius, and it would be perfectly normal to want to be around him more, or all the time. And wanting to touch him, to smell him, to hold his hand—well that couldn’t be too abnormal.”  
“Oy, space cadet,” James said, elbowing his friend in the side. “Earth to Moony. You still with us?”  
“Yeah,” Remus stammered. “Yeah, it’s just…are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, Aberforth probably won’t sell us firewhiskey, and he could tell Dumbledore or someone.”  
“Yeah,” James said, “But then he’d have to tell them he’s already been selling us butterbeer and knew about a secret entrance to Hogsmeade and didn’t tell anyone, so I don’t think he’ll turn us in. He might refuse to sell, but at least it’s a nice walk.”  
“Yeah the weather’s fucking great,” Sirius joked. “Anyways, we all need to sleep tonight.”  
“Yeah,” Remus said, guiltily. “I’m sorry about that. I know silencing charms…”  
“Shut up,” James insisted. “We don’t want our friend to wake up screaming, so we’re getting you properly wasted.”  
“You’ll sleep like a champ,” Sirius agreed. “Works for everyone in my family, and if it’s good enough for the Blacks it’s good enough for half-blood werewolves.”  
“Have you gotten drunk before?” Remus asked. “Or drank anything more than one butterbeer?”  
“Nope,” James said. “First time for everything, right Pads?”  
“Right,” James agreed.  
“Here here,” Peter squeaked.  
“Wait here,” Sirius said confidently, “I’m the oldest, so I’ll have the best luck.”  
“You’re fourteen,” James said. “But fine, we’ll wait.” Sirius ducked out from under the cloak and stepped into the Hog’s Head, which was rather more full than Remus had ever seen it, but then he and his friends had usually been gone by eleven.  
After what seemed like an inordinately long time Sirius emerged brandishing a bottle. “Victory friends,” he said, slipping back under the cloak. “Aberforth said that we were under no circumstances to finish more than a quarter of this bottle tonight, but once I told us our dear friend was grief stricken with his mother’s illness and needed to drink away the pain…”  
“You told him that,” Remus scolded.  
“You told us that,” James reminded. “All in the name of protecting your furry little secret.”  
“You make it sound like I have a rabbit hidden in my trunk,” Remus protested.  
“Wolves and rabbits are not a good combination,” Sirius pointed out.  
“Shut up,” Remu said, laughing. “Let’s get back to our room and get pissed.”  
“Here here,” James echoed.

“Peter is definitely out,” James said, flipping his friend’s eyelids up. “Help me get him back to bed.”  
Groaning, Sirius and Remus stood and helped transfer Peter to his own bed and pull the hangings. Remus stumbled a little on his way back to the bottle, which was sitting, half empty between James and Sirius’ beds. Sirius lay belly down on the floor and studied the bottle. “How is this stuff so fucking good?” He asked, giggling. “It’s so warm and it makes everything feel so… nice.”  
Laughing, Remus flopped onto his back and looked at Sirius through the bottle’s glass. He caught Sirius’ eye and grinned. “I feel like the king of the world,” Sirius declared. “Moony should get bad dreams more often.”  
“No thank you,” Remus agreed. “Though I quite like this coping mechanism.”  
“I think it’s vile,” James said, taking a swig from the bottle. “But the effects are quite nice.” Handing the bottle over to Remus, Jams leaned against his bed and started humming some song about a troll that falls in love with a giantess. After a pause, James exclaimed. “We should start a band!”  
“You’re barking,” Sirius laughed.  
“No,” James insisted, “I’ll be the singer and lead guitarist and Sirius would play the drums and Moony would play the piano. I remember you mentioning taking piano lessons as a kid.”  
“That’s beside the point,” Remus said hotly. “And I was rubbish, and we’d be a rubbish band. You can’t sing worth shit. And besides, what would Peter play?”  
“I don’t know, maracas?” James supplied. Sirius laughed and spit out his mouthful of firewhiskey on the floor.  
“”Gross,” James said.  
“At least it didn’t come out his nose,” Remus said apologetically. “What time is it?”  
“Quarter past two,” Sirius said, inspecting his watch. “At least, I think. The numbers are all squiggly. So tomorrow we’re fucked.”  
“Yup,” James agreed. “Pass the firewhiskey.”  
“I thought the whole point was for me to sleep,” Remus said.  
“We’re masters of distraction, not sleep,” James explained. “And I reckon you’ll sleep alright tomorrow.”  
“Yeah, because we’ll all be hungover,” Remus said.  
“And your head will hurt too badly to think about anything,” Sirius added. He rolled over until he was basically on top of Remus and reached up towards his bedside table.  
“What are you doing,” remus demanded. “Your hairy armpit is in my face.”  
“Sorry,” Sirius said. “Need wand… oh fuck it.” Groaning he flopped down literally on top of Remus. With another thud James tipped over sideways and landed on the floor.  
“I think he’s passed out,” Remus said.  
“Lightweight,” Sirius muttered. “I drank way more than he did. Must be the family history of alcoholism.”  
“That’s not a good thing,” Remus laughed, pushing at Sirius’ ribs. A part of him wanted Sirius to stay there, smelling like firewhiskey and snow, but the part of him that wanted to breath finally won out. “Now hop off; you’re crushing me.”  
Grunting, Sirius flopped back onto the floor next to Remus and groaned. “Greyback’s a tosser,” he added after a long pause.  
“Thanks,” Remus said. “I believe that’s what we call an understatement.”  
“You know what I mean,” he said. “You’re a good person; he’s not.”  
“Thanks,” Remus repeated, then added the thought that had been buzzing around his mind all day. “Sirius, what if I hurt somebody like he hurt me?”  
“You wouldn’t do that,” Sirius stated point-blank.  
“But I could,” Remus insisted. “Sirius I can’t control what the wolf does. You’ve seen what I do to myself on full moons. There could be an accident, and I could get out and rip some little kid to shreds. They could find his body in pieces and it would be my fault.”  
“But you wouldn’t want to,” Sirius insisted. “And you would do everything you could to prevent it, and then we’d figure something out.”  
“We?” Remus asked.  
“We,” Sirius confirmed. “We’re mates. We’re not going to walk away because of something that you can’t control. That’s Slytherin bullshit.”  
“Even if I hurt somebody?” Remus asked.  
“But it wouldn’t be you,” Sirius insisted. “That would be the wolf. You’re good.” Sirius flopped his arm over Remus’ chest, and closing his eyes he nestled his head into Remus’ shoulder and muttered. “And now you’re my pillow.”  
“Goodnight,” Remus said, hazily. Everything in the room was starting to blur, and he couldn’t focus on anything but the smell of firewhiskey and Sirius’ hair. 

Remus sat up to the sound of his alarm and immediately regretted it. The room spun around him and he had to sprint to the bathroom and vomit firewhiskey into the toilet. “Remus,” James called from the room. “Alarm.”  
Remus returned to his bedside table, head still spinning, turned off his alarm and collapsed onto his bed. “This was not a good idea,” he said to the ceiling. “Not a good idea at all.” Groaning, he sat up and started changing into his uniform. “Get up,” he said to his friends, who were still lying on the floor, or, in Peter’s case, the bed. “We’ve got to get breakfast and get to class.  
“No,” Sirius said, banging his head on the floor. “Don’t feel very good.”  
“Well that’s your own fault,” Remus said, crossing the room to kick at his friends. “And there’s coffee in the great hall. That’s supposed to help.”  
“Don’t feel good,” Sirius repeated as James made a croaking noise.  
“And when I have to tell the teachers you aren’t in class because you’re hungover?” Remus asked, moving over to Peter, who rolled over and vomited over the side of his bed. “Evanesco,” Remus muttered, clearing up Peter’s sick. “Fine,” he said at last. “I’m going to breakfast. You can stay here if it makes you feel better.”  
Ten minutes later, when Remus was tucking into pancakes and bacon, he looked up to see his friends stumble into the great hall.  
“Why is everything so bright?” James asked, sitting down.  
“Here’s some coffee,” Remus supplied helpfully. “Eat up!”  
“Not hungry,” James argued.  
“Have it your own way,” Remus said, taking another bite of pancake.  
“How are you so chipper?” Sirius demanded.  
“I’m used to showing up at class when I ‘don’t feel good.’”  
“Do you always feel this bad?” James asked.  
“Not so much the headache and nausea, but the dizziness and exhaustion, plus soreness. But wasn’t the whole point of this to help me out?”  
“Sure,” James pouted. “And we’re the ones suffering for it.”  
“You should’ve stopped sooner. I wasn’t forcing it down your throats,” Remus snapped.  
“Ung,” Sirius groaned and let his face fall into his empty plate.  
“At least we have History of Magic today,” Remus said. “We can nap through that. But we’ll have to get through Care of Magical Creatures first.”  
Remus barely managed to Shepherd his friends to the edge of the forest in time for class.  
“We’re going to have class in there,” Professor Kettleburn said, jerking his thumb at the forest. The prospect of danger and dark creatures pulled the Marauder’s out of their hangover enough to conjecture about what they might be facing.  
“Maybe it’ll be a Chimaera,” James said. “That’d be cool. Except for the goat parts. What’s the point of taking a dragons and mixing it with a goat?”  
“I reckon it’s going to be Mokes,” Remus sighed. “At least that’s the next chapter in our textbook.”  
“Killjoy,” James complained. “Nobody bothers with the textbook.”  
“Mokes are cool,” Peter added, but nobody responded.  
Behind them, Lily was trying to calm down her friend, Mary Macdonald, who was fretting over entering the forest. Remus was about to try and help comfort her until she said, “There are really dangerous things in here. There could be werewolves.”  
“Do you see a full moon?” Remus snapped spinning around to face her. “No, it’s light out, so don’t be stupid.”  
“Remus,” Lily said, shocked, but Remus turned away from her, seething. He never lost his temper, and his friends were staring at him.  
“My head hurts,” he finally said.  
“Well,” James said, grinning. “I bet there’s at least one wolf in the forest, right now.”  
“Shut up,” Remus said, not smiling this time. He just wanted to go back to the dormitory and sleep and not dream about anything. Granted, he did prefer focusing on his punding head to focusing on. Siting down on the grass he tried to focus on whatever Professor Kettleburn was saying about mokes, but he really didn’t care. He just wanted to lay down for a minute, maybe rest his eyes, just for a little while…  
“Potter, Black, Pettigrew, Lupin!” Remus woke to the Bark of Professor Kettleburn’s voice. “Wake up!”  
“Shit,” Sirius said, half waking up.  
“Detention for all of you,” Professor Kettleburn said, walking over. “Sleeping in class is simply unacceptable. I will be having a word with your head of house about… are you hungover?”  
“No,” James said in a voice that obviously said he was lying. Peter rubbed his temples and Sirius groaned and lay back down.  
“Um,” Remus said, trying to think of an excuse. “Just stayed up a bit too late.”  
“You reek of alcohol,” Professor Kettleburn hissed. The whole class was staring at the four boys now, eyes wide.  
“Well…” James said, squinting. “Maybe we did have something, but we’re fine, really. Not hungover at all.”  
“Get back up to the castle,” Kettleburn said. “Now, and wait in Professor McGonagall’s office.”  
“Yes sir,” Peter squeaked, jumping to his feet, shortly followed by Remus. James and Sirius followed shortly after and they all raced to the castle.  
“We are royally fucked,” Sirius commented. “McGonagall will have out heads for this.”  
“Do you think we’ll be expelled?” Peter asked.  
“Not expelled,” James said. “But we’ll have a lot of detentions.”  
“This was so stupid,” Remus moaned. “We shouldn’t have done this, not for me. Shit, I was going to stop breaking so many rules.”  
“Really?” James asked. “And you thought we would let you?”  
“Look, I’m lucky to be at Hogwarts. It was really good of Dumbledore to let me come, and—“  
“You have just as much right to be here,” Sirius said, stopping and grabbing Remus’ arm. “Hogwarts is for everyone, I mean, fuck, we’ve got Hufflepuffs. You’re good at magic, and that’s all that matters. Anyways, McGonagall will go easy on you if anything.”  
“But all this happened because of me,” remus insisted.  
“Oh come on,” James scoffed. “Sirius and I have been talking about getting some firewhiskey for ages. It was my idea for crying out loud. So stop avcting like it’s all your fault. We all drank it, and personally, I don’t regret it. I had fun last night.”  
“Me too,” Sirius agreed. “That stuff’s good.”  
“Yeah,” Peter agreed.  
“I guess,” Remus finally agreed. “But we’d better get to McGonagall’s or that’ll be another ten detentions. 

“Never! Never, in all my years of teachers have I had four third-years passing out, hung-over in class. I sent an elf to your dormitory and she came back with a half-empty bottle of firewhiskey. Where you managed to get your hands on that stuff is beyond me, but you boys are in serious trouble. Why did you think this was a good idea?”  
“It’s my fault, professor,” Remus said hastily as James groaned. “I—I wasn’t feeling good, and I wasn’t sleeping, so they thought it might cheer me up and help me sleep if we got drunk.”  
“I see,” McGonagall said, raising her eyebrows. “And which one of you came up with this plan.”  
“Well me,” James said. “And I supplied the stuff.”  
“And how did you get your hands on alcohol?” McGonagall asked.  
“Nicked it,” James lied. “From my parents.”  
“James,” Sirius said, obviously unwilling to let his friend take the full blame.  
“And you thought getting drunk was the best way to help cheer your friend up?” McGonagall questioned.  
“Well he’d been really upset after that article about Greyback,” Sirius said. “And he was having dreams.”  
“Sirius,” Remus groaned. “You’re not supposed to know about that.”  
“Oh,” Sirius said. “Well shit.”  
“Do you mean to tell me that you told your friends about your… condition,” McGonagall said, rounding on Remus.  
“No it wasn’t his fault,” James said quickly. “We figured it out. I mean, he was ill every month, but never in the hospital wing, plus there were all the scars so we checked with a lunar chart, and it just made sense. He tried to deny it, really, but you know, we’re very persistent.”  
“That you are,” McGonagall sighed. “I should have realized that article would have an affect on you,” She said, turning to Remus and actually smiling. “And as for the trouble sleeping, I will ask Professor Slughorn to mix you a sleeping potion. But as for the alcohol,” she said, her tone becoming hard again, “Drinking at Hogwarts is simply unacceptable, especially for third-years, and especially fire-whiskey. The occasional butterbeer is all well and good, but anything stronger clearly affects your studies, not to mention the school’s reputation. I will be giving each of you a detention every night for the next two weeks and all day on Saturday. And I will ensure that they are unpleasant for you.”  
“Yes Professor,” Remus said, still not meeting her eye. “Thank you.”  
“Now go up to the hospital wing,” She snapped. “Madame Pomfrey will get you a headache cure and you will return to class. I expect you will never do this again.”  
“Yes Professor,” all four boys said at once, and hurried out of her office before she could change her mind.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Peter asked.  
“Probably not,” James said, “But they were asking for it when they made the suits of armor sing.”  
“But it was my idea,” Sirius clarified. “Credit, where credit is due. I told Moony about this before term even started.”  
“Yes he did,” Remus said. “And we’d better get a move on if you want to charm all the suits of armor in the castle, because I intend to get at least two hours of sleep.”  
“If you must,” James groaned, tapping a suit of armor that immediately broke out in a chorus of God rest ye merry gentlemen.  
“God rest ye merry Hippogryphs, may Slytherins ye slay,” Sirius sang, spinning in a circle, then taking another swig of firewhiskey. “And I like this stuff, a lot.”  
“Stop drinking,” Remus said, snatching the bottle back. “McGonagall will actually kill you this time. I’m cutting you off now—you’ve gotten drunk enough already.”  
“Now come on, Pads, who need to give me more lyrics,” James said, raising his wand, and pointing it threateningly at the armor.  
“Gryffindors, the saviors will… Come on Moony help me out here,” Sirius said.  
“Will each rule disobey,” Remus chimed in.  
“Deliver us from boredom, and may we always stray, oh ba-aners of scarlet and gold, scarlet and gold…”  
“You know this isn’t very good,” James said.  
“It’s good enough,” Sirius slurred. “And let me see you do better when you’re drunk.” Sirius staggered a bit as he said these last few words.  
“Maybe we ought to put Sirius to bed early,” Remus joked. “Before he makes too much noise and Filchy finds us.”  
“I will not,” Sirius insisted. “I refuse to go. Maybe the song is rubbish, but nobody will know I wrote it, and at least it will annoy the Hell out of everyone. If I’ve got to go home to Christmas, then at least I can know the suits of armor are driving the staff and Snivellus mental.”  
“Alright Sirius,” Remus soothed, thinking about the night he had spent in Grimmauld Place. “We are all very sorry you have to go back to Grimmauld place, and we will cause all the mayhem you like. We’ve already hung mistletoe in awkward places and replaced the angels with gnomes. Is there anything else you want?”  
“Ice cream!” Sirius said. “Let’s go down to the kitchens.”  
“Alright then,” James said. “I’ll just stay here, doing all the grunt work, but I’m keeping the cloak. Moony can smell Filch or Mrs. Norris.”  
“If you insist,” Remus said, guiding a drunken Sirius back up to Gryffindor tower, Peter trailing behind. “Come on Pads, we’ve got to get dressed before we can go to the kitchens.”  
“Why?” Sirius demanded.  
“We don’t want to house-elves to know it’s the middle of the night,” Remus said, enjoying how gullible Sirius was when he was drunk.  
“Oh,” Sirius said. “Yeah, that’s a good idea.”  
Remus and Peter barely got Sirius back to his bed before he went limp and passed out . “Oh dear,” Remus said, stashing the fire-whiskey under Sirius’ bed. “He really does go for it when he drinks.”  
“We should take off his shoes,” Peter said. “That’s what my mum used to do when my dad passed out drunk.”  
“Have you heard from him?” Remus asked.  
“No,” Peter sighed. “But it’s alright, maybe next year.”  
“Yeah, maybe,” Remus said, smiling. “We had better get to sleep too. I don’t know how long James is going to carry on.”  
“Alright,” Peter said, turning to get his pajamas on. “Good night.”  
“Good night,” Remus said, crawling into his bed and turning out the light. “And until next year—mischief managed.


	4. Dementors, Girls, and Other Adventures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tension rises between Voldemort and the rest of the wizarding world, and the effects are felt in Hogwarts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a bit more sexual content in this chapter than the last few: nothing explicit, but it's there, so you have been warned.

Dear Moony—I apologize for the delay. Good to know you always have my back,  
Padfoot  
Smiling to himself, Remus ripped open the wrapper of his gift from Sirius to reveal a magical razor and a slab of Honeyduke’s best fudge.  
“What’ve you got there son?” Lyall Lupin asked.  
“Razor,” Remus answered, handing it over to his father. “It’s from Sirius because he ruined mine. And he got me fudge.”  
“This is a very nice razor,” Lyall said, inspecting it. “Supposed to never go dull. This must have been very expensive.”  
“Well Sirius’ family has a lot of money,” Remus said, but he felt a little embarrassed that the presents he had sent his friends were very inexpensive, some sweets for Peter, some motorcycle magazines for Sirius he hoped the Blacks would not confiscate, and quidditch magazines with large photographs for James.  
“Breakfast,” Hope Lupin called from the kitchen. “Come in and eat before it gets cold.” Remus rushed to the table and started tucking in to eggs Benedict and toast while his father turned the radio on. “Bacon?” Hope asked, shoveling food onto her son’s plate. “You’re growing so fast! Wee need to get some meat on you; you’re so skinny.”  
“Yes Mum,” Remus said, taking a bite of sausage. He was rather tall and very thin, and didn’t seem likely to stop growing any time soon.  
“Being tall is good,” Lyall said. “When I was your age I was shorter than all the girls in my year, and they wouldn’t look twice at me. Have you got your eye on any girls yet?”  
“No,” Remus said, blushing. The last thing he wanted anyone to know was that he had been thinking about Sirius quite a bit lately in a way that was not strictly friendly. When he let his thought drift he would find himself thinking about what Sirius’ hands felt like, wondering what it would be like to kiss him. It was not that he didn’t like girls—he could certainly appreciate a pretty girl when he saw one—but it was Sirius he thought about before he fell asleep. But Sirius wouldn’t be the kind to have these thoughts about another boy—he could have any girl he wanted if he tried, but for some reason he never did.  
“Remus?” Hope asked. “Is there something on your mind?’  
“No,” Remus said quickly. “No, just thinking about thing.”  
Hope and Lyall exchanged knowing looks and returned to their breakfast, after a few minutes the program on the radio was cut short with the voice of Harvey Adalbert, Minister of magic. This is an emergency broadcast. Death eaters are attacking wizarding communities all over the country. Please stay in your homes while our Aurors control the situation. We encourage every family to use protective charms and all forms of magical defense available, especial wizards and witches of muggle birth. I repeat, this is an emergency broadcast…  
With those final words, the radio went fuzzy, and Lyall shut off the radio and turned to his family. “Go to the cellar and wait there. I will secure the house and make sure my help isn’t needed elsewhere.”  
“Lyall,” Hope said. “They said to stay in your homes.”  
“Some people here can’t protect themselves,” Lyall said. “Helen Maddock is too old to cast protective spells, and she’s muggle born. I need to help her, and anyone else. Don’t worry, I have practice setting these charms, now go to the cellar. You’ll be safe.” As he said these words the sounds of explosions and screams could be heard in the distance.  
“Come on Remus,” Hope said. “Let’s go.”  
“I want to help,” Remus said, puling his wand from his pocket.  
“You need to be there in case your mum needs help,” Lyall said. “You know a shield charm, and how to disarm. Just use protego as much as you have to, and stay with your mum. Don’t worry about the decree for the restriction of underage wizardry. You are responsible for her safety.”  
“Yes,” Remus agreed, and followed his mother into the cellar. The room was empty so as to accommodate Remus’ transformation, and Lyall was more than used to placing protective charms, so for a moment it felt like any full moon. Holding his mother’s hand tight, Remus sat down against the wall next to the stairs so he could disarm anybody coming down. “Protego,” He whispered, watching the silvery force-field of his shield charm. He tried not to focus on the sounds of screaming, crashes and explosions and just practice all the defensive spells he had ever learned. “Petrificus totalus, stupefy, impedimenta,” he repeated under his breath, pretending he was just studying for an exam. After what felt like hours, he felt the house shake, and knew someone, or something had encountered the shield charms. Hope gasped and held her son’s hand tighter as she felt the room grow steadily colder.  
Remus had practiced a patronus charm with his friends, and he had seen and felt Dementors at registration, but he had never tried to fight one of. His mind filled with visions of a snarling grey wolf, his skin ripping open, his own screams… “No,” he shouted, trying to clear his head. It was just a vision, just a dream, he could deal with it, he could, looking over, he saw his mother, white with fear, as a shadowy, hooded figure emerged from the steps, gliding towards them.  
“Expecto,” Remus said feebly, trying to remember a happy memory, anything. He had practiced, he had made a corporeal patronus, but that was just fooling around his friends. And with that memory, fooling around in the room with Peter, James, and Sirius, his mind flooded with all the pranks, sneaking down to the Hog’s Head, watching James fly, swimming in the lake with Sirius, Sirius dancing around drunk, Peter falling asleep with melted taffy in his hands and on his face, Sirius holding his hand during History of Magic… “Expecto patronum,” Remus shouted as the Dementor closed in on him. A silver wolf burst from his wand and pushed the Dementor back, but it came on again.  
Summoning more memories, Remus repeated his spell and stood up, trying to hold the creature off. “Expecto Patronum,” He cried again, and his wolf got the Dementor most of the way up the stairs, but a second Dementor appeared in the doorway, and Remus felt his mind fill with hopelessness. He could not fight off two at once—he could barely manage one. Glancing at his mother, he knew al he could do was hold them off, hoping his father would come back soon. “Expecto Patronum,” Remus repeated, more determined than he had been before. His wolf chased one hooded figure away, but the other was closing in on Hope.  
“Is he going to be okay?’ She whimpered. “How can there be so much blood.”  
“Mum,” Remus cried. “Think of something happy. Anything.” Thinking of opening presents, his mother serving breakfast, foraging for plants with his father in the woods, Remus summoned the last of his energy for one more patronus, and chased the dementor away from his mother just as it closed its cold hands around her throat. As his patronus forced one dementor away, Remus felt clammy finger close around his throat from behind, and his mind spiraled into darkness. He was four years old, his father was shouting curses at a wolf, forcing it back out his bedroom window, his mother was crying, cluthing at his wounds, trying to stop the flow of blood.  
“I’ll get him to St. Mungo’s,” Lyall said, picking his mutilated son up from his bed. “Drive to London, I’ll meet you there. I have to go.”  
“I want to come,” Hope cried, clutching her son’s hand.  
“I’ll find you,” Lyall promised. “Remus, Remus it’s going to be alright, stay awake, stay with us.” Remus could barely hear his parents’ voices, only feel the pain, more pain than he thought a human could feel at once. It overwhelmed him until everything went dark.  
“Remus?’ Sitting up quickly, Remus head spun as he tried to focus on his father’s face in front of him.  
“What happened,” He said, wondering how he had gotten to his bedroom and why his father was covered in blood.  
“Dementors,” His father answered. “The Death Eaters attacked, and Dementors got through the enchantments. You fought them off.”  
“Where’s Mum,” Remus said, looking around.  
“She’s upstairs,” Lyall answered. “She’s alright, just sleeping. You saved her, son.”  
“I couldn’t fight them off,” Remus said, confused. They had closed in on him, he had smelt it’s breath, seen the second one hover over his mother before he blacked out.  
“You held them off long enough for me to come back,” Lyall said. “Once I saw one get through the enchantments on the Urien home I knew you were in danger, and I barely got home in time, but I got rid of them and then went back to the fight. There were seven Death Eaters here today, but they retreated once enough of us came out. I think we’re safe for now.”  
“Is everyone okay?” Remus asked. “Did anyone get hurt?”  
“No,” Lyall answered, his face going dark. “They killed Gina’s husband. He’s a muggle, you know, and they almost killed Fern Dennis.”  
“Oh,” Remus said, picturing his neighbors that he had seen when they came to the store, or when he went into town.  
“It’s alright Remus,” Layall said. “You should get some rest. What you did today is more than I would have expected from a third-year. I’ll bring you some cocoa, and you can read for a bit.”  
“Can I write to my friends?” Remus asked. “I need to make sure they’re okay. Lily’s muggle born; she might have gotten hurt.”  
“Alright,” Lyall sighed. “I’ll get you some parchment and I’ll send Farley when he comes back. I sent him to my family to make sure they’re alright. Hopefully they’ll send him back with news that they’re alright.” He frowned, and Remus felt a stab of guilt. His father’s family had cut off all contact with him after Remus had been bitten, and they likely would not send a response.  
“Thanks Dad,” Remus said.  
“Oh,” Lyall, handing his son a package. “I almost forgot to give you your gift. It might help you keep your mind off things.” Grinning, Remus ripped open the paper to reveal a set of five books.  
“Thanks Dad,” he said.  
“I’ll get you that paper,” Lyall said, leaving his son’s room, then stopped at the doorway and turned around. “I’m proud of you, son.”

“You fought Dementors?” James asked, incredulous. “For real.”  
“Yes,” Remus said. “But it wouldn’t have been enough if my Dad hadn’t come home in time. Other people weren’t so lucky. There were seventeen deaths of witches and wizards and almost forty muggle deaths. Voldemort isn’t just some crazy guy anymore: this is a real war, and we’re all in trouble. The Ministry doesn’t really know who his followers are.”  
“Yeah, even my parents are worried,” Sirius said. “They thought he had the right idea at first, but they don’t believe in actually killing muggle-borns and half-bloods. Just treating them like peasants. Of course, they didn’t lift a finger to help anyone on Christmas.”  
“My parents went to help,” James said. “They locked me in my room with my cousins, but they were too young to know what was going on. They’re half-blood though, so my aunt is pretty worried about them.”  
“My Mum stayed back with me to cast the protective charms,” Peter said. “But Bruno and my step-brothers went to fight. Anders got hit by a cruciatus curse though.”  
“Is he okay?” Remus asked.  
“Yeah,” Peter said. “He’s back on his feet and everything, but it was scary seeing him after. He looked just about as bad as you do after a transformation. Said it was more pain than he could ever imagine.” Remus could tell his friend was disturbed by what had happened, but could think of nothing to say to comfort him.  
“I heard some people say Dumbledore’s going to give us more defense training,” James said. “After what happened to Derek Carpenter.” Derek was a fifth-year muggle-born hufflepuff who had been tortured and killed on Christmas, along with his older sister and parents. He was the only Hogwarts student to be killed, but Caradoc Dearborn’s parents had been killed, his father for being a muggle, and his mother for marrying one, and a few other students had lost family members.  
“What do you reckon Dumbledore will teach us?” Remus asked. “We’ve been learning shield charms and disarming in class.”  
“Maybe just the extra practice,” Peter suggested.  
“But some of the Slytherins are death-eaters in the making,” James said. “Everyone is saying Rosiere was out there helping identify muggle-borns and fighting with the death-eaters. Dumbledore would only help them kill muggles and muggle-borns.”  
“Butt they caught a few death-eaters,” Peter said. “They can investigate anyone suspicious.”  
“The problem is Dementors,” Remus said. “If they were part of the attacks, that means Voldemort has gotten them on his side, and what’s the stop the death eaters at Azkaban from joining? He’ll give them more souls, more muggle souls. Who would guard Azkaban once they’re gone?’  
“Oh,” Peter said, closing his eyes. “I really hope the Ministry catches these guys.”  
“I don’t know if they can,” Remus sighed. “All I know is I have to do everything I can to prepare myself for next time I meet a Dementor, or a Death Eater. I never want to see one that close to my mum again.”  
“I agree,” James said. “I hated feeling so powerless, like even if I could go and fight them I wouldn’t be able to help.”  
“Me too,” Peter said, though Remus knew the thought terrified him. “I want to be able to defend myself and my family.”  
“Yeah,” Sirius said, looking out the window wistfully. “I’ve got to be able to defend my friends.”

The next full moon occurred a four days after term started again, and the evening before Remus was napping in the dormitory when he awoke to the sound of someone moving around in the bathroom. Smiling at the familiar sound of Sirius cursing, Remus walked into the bathroom to investigate his friend’s latest difficulty, but was immediately horrified by what he say. Sirius was standing shirtless looking at his back in the mirror. His back was covered by angry red lines, and he was trying to get some salve onto his wounds but clearly could not reach.  
“Sirius,” Remus asked.  
“Shit,” Sirius said, spinning around to face his friend and dropping his jar of salve, which Remus noticed was his own. “Shit,” Sirius repeated as he bent down to clean up the jar.  
“Repairo,” Remus said, and flicking his wand watched the salve return to his jar. “Sirius, are those lashes?”  
“No,” Sirius said. “Well, yes. Slytherins, you know.”  
“Sirius,” Remus said, “If it was Slytherins you would have told us.”  
“I’m not lying,” Sirius said in the defensive tone of somebody who was clearly lying.  
“You’re talking to somebody who routinely lies about how they got their injuries,” Remus pointed out. “When you came over for the summer you told me you got all those bruises from falling down the stairs.”  
“Well I did,” Sirius insisted, getting red in the face.  
“Oh come on,” Remus said. “That’s the most cliché lie. Up there when you told me you got cigarette burns from touching the oven, or you got a black eye from slipping in the shower.”  
“It’s fine,” Sirius said, raising his voice. He could be scary when he was angry, but Remus refused to back down.  
“I know you’re Mum’s doing this,” he said. “Don’t lie to me.”  
“Oh, like you did?” Sirius asked. “Like you said, I’m talking to somebody who routinely lies about their injuries.”  
“And you didn’t let me,” Remus argued. “And you did everything you could to help me. I’m trying to be your friend here Sirius.”  
Sirius took a step forward and for a moment Remus thought he was going to hit him, but instead he stepped back, leaned against the bathroom counter and whispered. “Don’t tell James.”  
“I won’t,” Remus said. “Just tell me was happened.”  
“It was a riding crop,” Sirius answered. “Like I said, she was really angry at me for getting in trouble all the time, and for being friends with...”  
“With a half-blood,” Remus finished.  
“Yeah,” Sirius said. “And being a Gryffindor. And Regulus told her about all the fights I get in with Slytherins. He writes them every time I do something to shame the noble and most ancient house of Black, so it was worse this year.”  
“Sirius,” Remus said, but then realized he didn’t know what to say. “I’m really sorry.”  
“Don’t pity me,” Sirius said angrily. “I can deal with it fine. It’s only three more years, and then I’ll be through with them.”  
“I’m not pitying you,” Remus protested. “I know you’re tough and you can handle it, I’m just saying it’s not right that you have to. I know how it feels.”  
“Do you?” Sirius shot back.  
“I think so,” Remus said. “What happened to me makes me feel weak. Even though I know there was nothing I could do, the fact that someone else could hurt me makes me feel small and powerless. I felt that way when the Dementors came. Even though everyone says I’m just a third-year and they wouldn’t expect me to fight them off, I still feel embarrassed that I couldn’t, and it just makes me feel incapable. I don’t know if that’s what you feel, but I think it’s how I would feel if it was me.”  
“It is,” Sirius said, putting his head in his hands. “I thought it was just me.”  
“Look, you’re not alone,” Remus said. “I thought I was until you and James and Peter found out about what I was, and you guys liked me anyway. And I’m so glad you figured it out because I don’t feel alone anymore.”  
“Yeah,” Sirius said, “It’s good to know you understand.” He paused for a moment, then straightened up and forced a smile. “Anyways, I’d best get to doing some of that homework. James will be looking for me.”  
“At least let me help you with that,” Remus said, gesturing to his healing salve. “And this isn’t even the right stuff. This is for bruises, not cuts.”  
“Oh,” Sirius said, looking down at the jar. “I was in a bit of a hurry.”  
“Yeah, well next time you nick my stuff try asking first,” Remus said. “Then you can at least nick the right stuff.”  
“Point taken,” Sirius said. “But you won’t tell anyone will you? Not even the teachers.”  
“I think you should,” Remus said, “But if you won’t, then I won’t either. But you’re spending the summer with James or me or Peter. I’ll write my parents as soon as possible.”

On Saturday afternoon third, fourth and fifth year Hogwarts students filled the Great Hall after lunch for their first defense lesson taught by Dumbledore.  
“I heard the sixth and seventh years practiced resisting the imperious curse,” Bertha Jorkins—a sixth year Hufflepuff—whispered to her friend. “Do you think Dumbledore will have us doing that?”  
“Eventually Bertha,” Dumbledore said, entering the room behind her. “But today we are practicing something different.” He swept to his usual spot at the front of the great hall and addressed the student body. He didn’t even need to use a sonorous charm—everyone paid attention when he spoke. “After breakfast I have been practicing disarming and shield charms with first and second years. If you feel you need extra practice on these spells, I encourage you to attend. I beg of you, do not let your pride hold you from the practice you need. Pride will not stop a curse from a death eater. Today we will be learning an essential tool for escaping a sticky situation. Today we will be learning to ask for help.” Angry muttering erupted around in the hall, which Dumbledore quieted with a stern look. “I know you may feel this is beneath you, but the belief that you alone can face grown wizards is foolish and arrogant, and will only hurt you and those around you. I myself have used this charm many times, and I would consider myself to be a better than average duelist.” Dumbledore paused to chuckle a little, and Remus had to smile as well.  
“If you believe a situation may come to violence, it is necessary to assess whether you need reinforcements and call your friends to your side before you are overwhelmed by your opponents. You will have heard of the charm we will be using today, it is the patronus charm. I am sure you are all aware that a patronus charm can be used to fight off Dementors,” Dumbledore paused here, and his clear blue eyes’ met Remus’, “but it has many other uses. Patronuses can be used to send a message, for instance…” Dumbledore brandished his wand and said, “Expecto patronum,” and a phoenix flew from his wand. Dumbledore muttered something Remus could not hear from the back of the classroom, and the phoenix soared to the back of the classroom and landed on Professor McGonagall’s shoulder. The bird spoke with Dumbledore’s voice, “A patronus can travel faster than this one, and over very far distances, though the longer the distance, the more energy the spell consumes.”  
The patronus dissolved into silver smoke, and Dumbledore said from the front of the classroom. “When one successfully summons a patronus, name the person to whom you must send a message, relay the message, and your patronus will carry the message. If you are in distress, and do not have the energy to direct your patronus, the patronus will find the nearest person whom you trust and lead them to your side. For this reason it is important you can identify the patronuses of your close friends and family, so you know to whose aid you have been summoned. For now we will practice producing a patronus. I am sure you all know to summon happy thoughts. This charm is very difficult on it’s own, and many witches and wizards never manage to summon a corporeal patronus, but a non-corporeal one will suffice. Partner up, and practice.”  
With those final words the students began to partner up, but Remus left Peter’s side and ran after Dumbledore.  
“Headmaster,” he called as Dumbledore walked away from the dais at the front of the hall.  
“What is it Mr. Lupin?” Dumbledore asked.  
“I was wondering, sir, if there’s a way that I can change my patronus,” Remus said. “I don’t like what my patronus turns into.”  
“I understand you produced a corporeal patronus when facing two dementors,” Dumbledore said, not answering Remus’ questions.  
“Yes sir,” Remus said. “But it took the form of a wolf, and…”  
“Remus,” Dumbledore said, cutting him off. “Sometimes our suffering is the source of our strength. You, a thirteen year-old boy, fought off two of the world’s foulest creatures. That clearly took great power. I encourage you to embrace your strengths, and not hide from your own power.”  
With those words, Dumbledore slipped away into the throng of students, leaving Remus more confused than before.

“Look what I got,” Sirius said, producing a small box from his back pocket. “Cigarettes.”  
“Where’d you get those?” James asked.  
“Some sixth year sells them to us underage blokes,” Sirius said. “Fletcher. Can’t remember his first name.”  
“Mundungus?” Remus asked. “You’d better be careful. He’s the type to sell you dried basil and say it’s weed.”  
“Yeah, well maybe we can try that next,” James said, withdrawing a cigarette from the pack. “Weed, I mean, not basil.”  
“If you want weed, I’ve got you covered,” Remus said. “My dad grows that stuff for potions and some ‘medicinal use.’ He won’t notice a little going missing.”  
“Your dad’s a stoner?” James asked.  
“His son is a werewolf,” Remus said. “He needs an outlet. Of course he thinks I don’t know and that I still believe that the plants in the southern end of the garden are poisonous. But they do have legitimate uses in calming draughts or in pain-relieving potions. We just don’t learn those here because the students would take all the ingredients and smoke it.”  
“How did I not notice this when I was over there?” Sirius asked. “We could have spent the whole summer high.”  
“You avoided the garden at all costs,” Remus said, shrugging. “But hand me one of those cigarettes. I’ve only smoked the one I lifted from my mum.”  
“Such a rebel,” Sirius said, handing the box over, and lighting his own cigarette. “I love it when Moony’s wild side comes out. Peter?”  
“I guess,” Peter said, holding his cigarette as if it were liable to explode.  
“It’s a fag, not a bomb,” Remus laughed. “Here, I’ll light you up. Inhale slowly.” Peter coughed as he choked on the first drag, but Remus clapped him on the back and took another puff.  
“What’s it supposed to do?” Peter asked.  
“It’s not going to get you high,” Remus laughed. “Just help calm you down, keep you sharp. It’s more of a habit thing.”  
“Are these going to kill me?” Peter asked. “I read an article…”  
“I’d say you’ve got a much higher chance of getting offed my Voldemort,” Sirius said, taking another drag. “Or from animagus complications to be honest. But you can grow, and un-grow a tail, so at least there’s that.”  
“Look at this,” James said, and screwing up his eyes, he sprouted antlers and retracted them.  
“Cool,” Sirius said. He bent over until he was on all fours, but his proportions had changed slightly so he looked more dog-like in profile. “But I’m still stuck with this goddamn paw,” he said, waving his mittened hand. “All the teachers give me funny looks in class.”  
“At least you listened to Moony and practiced on your left hand,” James said. “Not that your handwriting could get worse.”  
“I told you that you push it too far and get stuck in difficult situations,” Remus sighed. “I thought you would have learned your lesson after the furry incident.”  
“Well that’s not a problem anymore,” Sirius said as he sprouted shaggy black hair, then shed it instantly, the hair dissolving as it fell off his body. “Though I’m not sure why it keeps doing that. I wish it would just go back in.”  
“Careful not to mix drinking and transforming,” Remus warned. “I read it can have serious adverse affects.”  
“That would explain the paw,” Sirius said, grinning.

Ducking under a jet of red light, Remus straightened up and cried, “stupefy.” Lily used a shield charm to block his curse, but was not so lucky when he disarmed her.  
“Nice one,” she said, running to retrieve her wand. “This makes us even.”  
“I still feel bad leaving Peter,” Remus fretted, searching for his friend in the crowd.  
“I think he’s coping alright,” Lily said, smirking and jerking her head over at Peter, who was busy talking to Janet Wilkes, who, apart from her acne, was rather pretty.  
“I see,” Remus said. “He seems to be making his move. Speaking of which… expelliarmus.”  
“You play dirty,” Lily said, affronted. “You should never charm a distracted an opponent, especially when she happens to be a lady.”  
“That’s convenient,” Remus said. “But I’m all for gender equality. Anyways, I was meaning to ask you if you’re doing alright, what with all the anti-muggle-born stuff that’s been going on.”  
“Well I’m not exactly pleased that a bunch of people want me dead,” she said. “Including a few people in this school…” Lily’s gaze drifted over to Severus who was dueling with—or more accurately being attacked by—Mulciber. “But,” Lily said, “Nothing happened near my home, and it’s safe here. It was really nice that you wrote to me, though. Its always good to know my friends are looking out for me.”  
“James said he wrote you also,” Remus said, smirking this time.  
Lily rolled her eyes. “You really ought to tell him to give up. It’s gotten quite irritating.”  
“We tell him regularly,” Remus joked. “But you’ve really got him hooked.”  
“Well tell me how to get him un-hooked,” Lily said, exasperated. “It’s like having a really talkative shadow. I’m trying to study, and he’s like ‘Lily, what did you write for question five, Lily, did you come to the last quidditch match, Lily, are you going to Hogsmeade this weekend.’ I’m up to here with it.”  
“He said just about the same thing about Peter,” Remus said, laughing. “But I think Peter has a new goal for now.”  
“And you?” Lily asked. “Do you fancy anyone?”  
“No,” Remus scoffed. “No, I’m flying solo right now.”  
“Hm,” Lily said, then, “expelliarmus.”  
“Oh this means war,” Remus said as his wand flew from his hand. “You are going to regret this Evans.”  
“I’d rather practice patronuses,” Lily said. “Mine is still pretty vague. I can’ believe you managed a corporeal one.”  
“Only the one time,” Remus said. This was not strictly true: he had summoned corporeal patronuses plenty of times with his friends, but was not about to let anybody else see what form his took. “Let’s see yours.  
“Expecto patronum,” Lily said, and a misty four-legged creature emerged from her wand.  
“What is that?” Remus asked as it dissolved.  
“It’s a doe,” Lily said defensively. “Can’t you see? Why are you laughing?”  
Remus eventually managed to gain some control over his laughter long enough to choke out, “It’s funny because James’ patronus is a stag.”  
“Bloody hell,” Lily cursed. “Don’t tell him: he’ll never leave me alone.”  
“No, he won’t,” Remus said, grinning.

On one of the first nice spring days, Remus and his friends sat around the beech tree by the lake. It was strictly a little cold to be spending time outside, but James and Sirius tended to go stir crazy, and the amount of detentions required and intervention.  
“Smoke?” Sirius asked, handing Remus a cigarette.  
Remus glanced around for teacher—James and Sirius had gotten busted the week before for smoking in the men’s lavatory—then lit the end. “How was detention with Halford?” Remus asked.  
“Nice,” James said, leaning against the tree. “She was wearing this tight sweater.”  
“She made us do lines,” Sirius complained.  
“Well she can catch me smoking any time she likes,” James sighed.  
“Better not let Evans hear that,” Sirius scolded. “You can’t go fantasizing about other women when you’ve promised to exclusively stalk her. It’s confusing.”  
“Oh and I suppose you never think about Halford when you’re… you know,” James said, making lewd hand motions  
“Gross,” Sirius said, screwing up his face. “I don’t do that.”  
“And I suppose you just use silencing charms to save us from you snoring,” James teased. “But only for about ten or fifteen minutes. Come on, you’re a healthy fourteen-year-old boy. It’s only natural. Even Remus does it; nobody takes four showers a day unless they’re jacking off, not even Mr. Clean here.”  
Remus blushed, but did not equal Sirius’ shade of red. “My parents say it makes you go blind,” Sirius whispered.  
“If that was true nine out of every ten men would be blind by now,” Remus laughed. “You can’t seriously believe that? You’re usually much more uninhibited.”  
“And you’re usually much more reserved,” Sirius shot back.  
Remus leaned back against the beech tree and took a long drag from his cigarette. “We’re fourteen,” he finally said. “We’re supposed to be experimenting. It doesn’t necessarily mean anything, it’s just a sort of phase.” At least Remus hoped this phase would pass and soon it would be Sirius he thought about when he was alone with himself. He was not the only one to notice Sirius good looks and charm. “Granted, you could probably experiment with a real girl if you wanted,” Remus pointed out. “I think Mary Macdonald has her eye on you. If you play this out right you could be the first of us to get a snog. But you’ve got to be quick or Peter will beat you to it with Janet Wilkes.”  
“But Mary’s so…” Sirius began, but trailed off. “I don’t think she’s my type.”  
“Who is?” James asked. “You’ve got to be thinking of somebody, or at least think one of these girls is pretty. Come on, who’s caught your fancy.”  
“Nobody,” Sirius insisted, starting to get angry. “And I don’t want to talk about this stuff… it’s private, okay?”  
“Okay,” James said. “I’ll lay off, just calm down, will you? I’m only teasing.”  
“Yeah, it’s James’ primary responsibility,” Remus said. “That and duel with Slytherins at the slightest provocation.”  
“Snivelly was being rude about your clothes being all patched up,” James said.  
“Well they are,” Remus said, picking at a hole in his sweater. “My stuff is falling apart, and there’s no use getting a detention just because Snape points it out.”  
“Yeah, he’s one to talk,” James said. “You’d think he doesn’t know we have laundry here.”  
“His personal hygiene does leave something to be desired,” Remus said. “But if you ever want Evans to like you you’re going to have to lay off. I don’t think girls actually like being fought over; that’s just for books. Knocking his books out of his hands and tripping him just makes you look more like the arrogant tosser she thinks you are, especially when you and Sirius are teaming up against him.”  
“I’ll stop being an arrogant tosser when he does,” James said, crossing his arms over his chest.  
“And maybe break fewer rules and land yourself in fewer detentions,” Remus suggested, which caused James and Sirius to break out laughing.  
“Not a chance,” Sirius said. “If you straighten out for Evans it’ll be the end of the marauders. Maybe you’ll impress her in the quidditch game this weekend,” Sirius said, nudging James in the ribs. “At the very least you’ll get to wipe the floor with the Slytherins, and we can celebrate with all the butterbeer stashed under my bed butterbeer and food from the kitchens.”  
“And what if we lose?” James asked. “Our seeker’s rubbish, if you haven’t forgotten.”  
“Well, we do have a lot of butterbeer,” Sirius said. 

Despite James’ misgiving, the Gryffindor team brought the quidditch cup back to the common room that night as Sirius and Remus slipped out under the cloak and headed down to the kitchens.  
“Wait,” Remus breathed as they paused below the painting of the bowl of fruit. “I just learned this new spell. Homenum reveleo.” When nothing happened Remus proceeded forward and tickled the pear.  
“What was that supposed to do?” Sirius asked.  
“It’s supposed to alert you to any human presence,” Remus said. “So it wouldn’t reveal house-elves, but if a teacher of Filch were in there, we would know.”  
“That’s Brilliant,” Sirius said, following his friend into the kitchen. “We need to use that more.” The moment they entered, however, they were swarmed by house-elves, pushing their favorite dishes into their hands, including cakes and pastries colored scarlet and gold. “Thank you,” Sirius and Remus said again and again, and stumbled out of the kitchens, arms over-flowing with snacks. “People always act so impressed when we come with food,” Sirius laughed. “I don’t know why more people don’t try this.”  
“Probably not as daring as us,” Remus replied, throwing the cloak over Sirius and himself. “Not that the teachers would probably care much if they caught us. For all their talk on strict school rules, it’s pretty hard to mess up enough to get in Sirius trouble.”  
“Except for being out of bed out of hours,” Sirius said. “They take a hard line on that.”  
“Not for the older students,” Remus said. “They all sneak out to meet up with their boyfriends and girlfriends in empty classrooms, and the teachers mostly look the other way.”  
“Except when Bertha Jorkins caught those two Slytherins behind the greenhouse,” Sirius smirked.  
“Yeah, well that’s because he hexed Bertha pretty badly,” Remus said. “Teachers don’t really care about catching anyone snogging behind greenhouses. Anything more than that you’re going to get a detention or two, and the teachers don’t usually open locked doors for that purpose.”  
“You’ve given this a lot of thought,” Sirius said.  
“Well if we wanted to get away with something, I’m saying all you have to do is lock the door and use muffliato, and anyone patrolling the halls will probably leave the door locked.”  
“I suppose,” Sirius said. “Maybe we can work on our fireworks there without having to worry about catching the room on fire.”  
“Yeah,” Remus agree, though he had a few ideas of things he would like to do with Sirius in an empty classroom. An empty place where he could tell Sirius how he felt, maybe get some snogging in… but that was ridiculous. Sirius could have any girl he wanted, and he certainly wouldn’t want Remus.  
When Remus and Sirius re-entered the Gryffindor common room the after-party was going strong. Half of the bottles of butterbeer were empty, and the radio was playing at high volume.  
“You’re back,” James said, relieving Remus and Sirius of most of their food. “Good, people are starting to get hungry.” Remus dropped of the rest of the foor on a table and considered sneaking back up to the dormitory. Large groups of people made him uncomfortable, and he would much rather be alone in his bed with a book than alone in a crowd. On the other hand, James would be upset if his friend wasn’t there, so Remus opened a butterbeer and stood against a wall, watching the proceedings. Most of the players were lifting up the cup and telling dramatic renditions of the more exciting goals and saves of the game. James, who had won the most points, was getting a great deal of female attention, but not from one particular red-headed female. Peter, meanwhile, was talking to Janet Wilkes and eating a great deal of cake.  
“Hey wallflower,” Sirius had extracated himself from the revelry to stand next to his friend, butterbeer in hand. “Enjoying the party?”  
“You know how I feel about parties,” Remus said. “I’m just performing my duties as a friend. You?”  
“I like parties,” Sirius said, surveying the room.  
“Hey Sirius,” a tall girl black with curly hair said, approaching the two friends.  
“Hi Mary,” Sirius said, smiling. “Enjoying the party?”  
“I’d enjoy it more if you danced with me,” Mary said.  
Sirius shot Remus a questioning glance, then, with a thumbs-up from Remus, took Mary’s hand and followed her onto the dance floor. Remus tried to smile as he watched his friend dancing with Mary, smiling at her, moving his body in time with hers. He liked the way Sirius moved, watching his friends hips sway with the beat of the music. After a few minutes of watching Sirius Remus began to feel a familiar hot feeling in the pit of his stomach and retreated back upstairs where he stripped off his clothes and got in the shower. Closing his eyes he leaned against the wall and reached down to touch himself while he thought about having Sirius’ body that close to him, smelling his perspiration, moving his body in rhythm with Sirius’. He was close to climax when the bathroom door swung open.  
“Remus?” Sirius asked as he walked in.  
“Yes?” Remus asked, sticking his head out from behind the shower curtain.  
“Oh,” Sirius said, blushing. “Were you… having some alone time?”  
“No,” Remus stammered, very aware of how naked he was. “Just taking a shower.”  
“Your hair is dry,” Sirius pointed out, grinning. “It’s alright, I just need to brush my teeth, then I’ll get out of your way.”  
“Are you going to bed?” Remus asked. “Or are you trying to freshen up for Mary?”  
“Going to bed,” Sirius answered, spitting out toothpaste. “I’m got tired.”  
“Yeah, all the dancing I guess,” Remus said. “Did you like it?”  
“Yeah, I guess,” Sirius said, pausing at the door. “It’s just, I know all James thinks about is girls, and Peter is flirting with Janet, and you’re in here five times a day, but I’m just not that interested. Do you think that’s normal?”  
“Yeah,” Remus said, “I mean, they’ll still be here when you do get interested.”  
“Okay,” Sirius said, obviously relaxed. “It just kind of freaks me out, having them around. I feel like I’m getting swarmed. You know like five different girls asked me to dance, and Mary and Karen told me they’d be perfectly happy to find somewhere to be alone. Girls just confuse me. I don’t know, do you think that means there’s something wrong with me?”  
“Not at all,” Remus said, wishing he could have this conversation with more clothes, and without a hard-on. “There’s plenty of boys who aren’t flirting with girls, it’s just that you’re so attractive that they’re all interested.” Remus’ cheeks burned as he said this, realizing that he was not supposed to say his best friend was attractive.  
“I am?” Sirius asked, looking down at himself.  
“Yeah,” Remus said. “I mean, you’re in good shape, and you’ve god that whole bad boy thing going, and you’re just sort of… handsome.”  
“I’m handsome?” Sirius asked, laughing. “Well, I’ll let you get back to it,” He said, laughing again, and left.  
Groaning, and then hoping that Sirius hadn’t heard it, Remus leaned back against the shower wall and returned to his fantasies about Sirius. He tried to believe his own advice that, sooner or later, he would be interested in a girl, and not his best friend who was funny, attractive, nice, and completely unattainable. 

 

Remus was walking back from his arithmency class, looking forward to a nice break outside with his friends when somebody called his name.  
Spinning around, he saw Bellatrix Black with her friends Carrow and Rigby, Snape trailing behind. “I want a word with you, Lupin,” She said, striding towards him. Looking around, Remus noticed that the corridor was completely empty, except for three fourth-year Slytherins, Snape and himself.  
Nervously reaching for his wand, Remus said, “What do you want to talk about?”  
“No need for wands,” Bellatrix said in an overly sweet voice. “I just want to talk about my cousin Sirius. You see, he is a pureblood, and a Black, like me. I don’t expect you to understand, but I need you to leave my cousin alone. You dirties the name of Black—my name—every time he speaks to you. Severus here tells me he’s seen you sneaking around the castle with him and your other little friends, and it has to stop now. Do you understand?”  
“I understand,” Remus said slowly. “But I don’t understand why I would want to lose my friend. I don’t take orders, you see, not even from pure-bloods.”  
“Mudblood scum,” Bellatrix spat. “levicorpus.”  
“Protego,” Remus cried, as he dodged a blue jet of light from Carrow. Soon hexes were coming at him from four directions, and it was all he could do to keep his shield up. He couldn’t process what the Slytherins were throwing at him, only dodge and block. After what seemed like a very long time he saw two familiar figures stumble in to the corridor from behind a tapestry, one short and fat, the other tall and skinny with messy black hair.  
“Get a teacher Peter,” James shouted, drawing his wand. “expelliarmus.” James’ curse missed Rigby, but as the Slytherins turned to face their new opponent Remus had time to disarm Severus.  
“Deal with Potter,” Carrow shouted to Bellatrix and Rigby. “I’ll deal with the half-blood on my own.” Remus shot two disarming curses and one stunner to Carrow, all of which he blocked before Snape found his wand again and Remus was back on defense. He paused for a moment when Bellatrix’s disarming curse hit James and sent him flying before everything turned upside-down. He had been on the receiving end of levicorpus before, mostly courtesy of James and Sirius, so he was able to keep hold of his wand and disarm Snape again.  
“This one pays attention to Dumbledore’s lessons,” Bellatrix said, turning away from James who was looking for his glasses and wand with no luck on either account. “Half-bloods should learn their place. How should we teach him his lesson, Amycus?”  
“Let him go,” said a voice from the end of the hallway. Bellatrix, Carrow, Rigby, and Snape turned around to see Proffessor Azorius—the divination teacher—spointing his wand at the group of Slytherins as Remus fell to the floor with a crash. He was fairly well prepared for this also, and landed with some grace and stumbled over to help James find his wand and glasses as Proffesor Azorius yelled at the Slytherins.  
“Are you okay?’ Remus asked, helping his friend to his feet. “Thanks for coming.”  
“Yeah, well we were going to meet up with you and head outside when we heard shouting. Are you okay?”  
“Yeah,” Remus said. “Probably a few bruises.”  
“Boys,” Professor Azorius called. “Professor Slughorn will be needing to see you two as well to ask for details. Kindly head down to his office after these four, unless you need the hospital wing first.”  
“Yes Professor,” Remus said, heading down to the dungeons, James and Peter close behind him. They took a few shortcuts so as to avoid the company of the Slytherins and got to Slughorn’s office in time to recount their skirmish and leave before the end of break. “Well you’ve finally been in a duel that hasn’t ended in detention… for you,” Remus pointed out.  
“That wasn’t a duel, that was an ambush,” James said, fuming. “Those were not friendly spells. If even some of those had hit, you would be in the hospital wing for a while. Nothing worth an expulsion, mind, but pretty nasty stuff, and four on one. This isn’t the usual stuff—it wasn’t a mean prank or your common bullying. This is death eater stuff.”  
“They’re fourteen or fifteen,” Remus said. “They aren’t death eaters.  
“Not yet,” Peter said, practically shaking with anxiety.  
“It’s fine Peter,” Remus said, putting his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Nobody was hurt. We’re all fine.”  
“What happened,” Sirius said, sprinting down the hall. “Are you okay? I heard there was some sort of a duel.”  
“It’s fine,” Remus said. “None of us are hurt: it was just Slytherins being Slytherins.”  
“How did it start though?” James asked. “You didn’t tell Slughorn.”  
“Oh, Bellatrix doesn’t want me to be friends with Sirius,” Remus said. “I’m a half-blood, so I dishonor her name, or whatever.”  
“So it was because of me?” Sirius asked. “Shit.”  
“It happened because of Bellatrix,” Remus corrected. “Now we have time for a smoke before herbology, and I could certainly use one. Coming?”  
“Yeah,” Sirius said, as James and Peter nodded. “But we’re going to get them back for this.”  
“Maybe tomorrow,” Remus sighed. “This won’t be our last duel, and I think we can expect more damage next time, but for now, let’s just enjoy a nice day. We only get so many of those.”


End file.
